The Fox and Boar
by bleachedserenity
Summary: Naruto and Ino have a mission. Something goes wrong and she's forced to see one of Naruto's darkest secrets firsthand. The boy must now do whatever necessary to protect the ones he loves, even if it means committing the unspeakable. After Kakuzu. NaruIno
1. Shintenshin no Jutsu

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

Summary: This is based in the Shippuuden manga, sometime after Naruto develops his jutsu and uses it in battle for the first time.

A/N: Edited and revised.

**Shintenshin no Jutsu**

"I don't care if you want to or not, a mission is a mission. Right now Sakura is out doing errands for me and Shikamaru and Chouji are on a scouting mission for the Kusagakure. Team 8 is out protecting a feudal lord and you two are the best for the mission as of right now." Tsunade looked up from her scroll, daring Naruto to make another comment.

"Tsunade-baach-," he was cut off a by Ino as she grabbed his collar in an attempt to shut him up.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," she bowed slightly before proceeding to walk towards the door, still holding Naruto by the cloth of his jacket.

"After all the trouble I went through to master my awesome new jutsu, I still only have a B rank mission?" He groaned as soon as Ino's hand was away from his throat.

"You realize you're still a genin, right," she said as if he might have just learned it.

"Yeah…" Naruto's voice trailed off in depression at the thought of everyone else at chunin, except Neji. He of course had to be a jounin.

"Alright, go get ready; we have to leave in ten minutes." Ino stated in a slightly cheerful tone, trying to break his concentration.

"Okay, we have to take down this gang, right? I'll go in the lead and you back me up, once I get in position, I'll signal for you to follow me. You cover me and then we attack, right?"

Her head nodded in silent agreement.

The gang was stationed outside of a small town and was cutting off most of the supply shipments that came in from various villages. This had grown to be a problem for the Land of the River. Their economy was beginning to shift and needed aid badly.

"Careful, Naruto, this gang deserved a B rank, don't rush in and get pinned down." Ino whispered the words before he disappeared into the shadows of the warehouse. She watched the small blur until a large group of people came in from one the side doors. "Stop, Naruto! There's got to be almost twenty-five guys there." Her thoughts focused on trying to make him realize where he was headed. "If I move now, they'll spot me instantly and we both might die. If he would stop, I could use my Shintenshin no Jutsu and bring him back here… There!"

Naruto landed behind a pile of crates to survey the area until his body went limp. The jutsu had taken full effect as Ino raised his head long enough to dart back to far end of the building. Just in time as several men began moving the cargo outside. She rested a second before deciding to release her hold over his mind when a cold voice at the end of the hallway of his conscious drew her attention. She ventured onward through the dark corridor only to meet a dead end. Ino heard an exhale from the demon's nostrils as hot breath swept by her legs, making them sweat from the sheer heat. She felt fear at the very thought of what the hell was going on inside his mind.

"**Come to me again, kit?" the voice was rough and dominating, "Why what do we have here? You aren't the loud–assed punk. Why are you here?"** The voice was loud and echoed in the endless maze, shaking Ino to her very core.

"It… It's a… jutsu," the kunoichi replied with a feeble voice, stammering with the words. "What are you?" she asked, the words barley getting past the bars that withheld the evil chakra.

"**The source of this boy's power. Surely you've sensed it before."** The reply was just as cold, stinging the air with a venomous tone.

Ino's mind thought back to when Sakura told her about the time in The Land of the Wave, the way Naruto had done something. She said it was like her skin was being burned by darkness by just being in its presence. Could this be the reason? "Why are you here? Why are you locked inside Naruto?" her voice quivered at the thought of having such an evil being eating away at her from the inside.

"**I was put here as punishment by the damned Yondaime,"** he replied, the breath seemed like fire as it moved away from the bars.

The words sunk it as the story of the 4th as he sacrificed himself to save the Leaf village came up in her mind. Everyone just said that he died, saving the village from the… Kyuubi. "Why did he put you in Naruto?" her voice grew stronger against the evil atmosphere.

"**To keep me from terrorizing his home, I hate the bastard for putting me in this boy. Do you have any idea how damn annoying it is when he gets saddened or depressed? It pulls down the air and he forces me to deal with it."**

Ino was beginning to feel lightheaded; the force of being in that highly concentrated chakra was exhausting her spirit. She needed out before it was too late. The blonde ninja focused all her chakra and broke free from the demanding evil power. Her eyes fluttered open as she returned to her own body, where her mind didn't have cackling laughs and a demon fox who suppressed happiness by nature. She picked herself up long enough to see a confused Naruto, wandering around, looking to see what had happened.

"Ino, did you do something?"

'_Should I tell him? __**No, it might freak him out if he knows I know.**__ I'll just wait it out until we complete the mission. __**'But it is his mind.'**__ We can't die though.' _ The thoughts circled themselves in her head until finally she spoke. "No, you were about to head off. Now hurry and watch out for the guards."

He nodded his head, content that every thing was fine and headed back down into the depths of the near empty building.

---

'_Why did the Yondaime put the Kyuubi in Naruto? He was just a baby. How does he feel? Is this why the adults used to get a grave look on their faces when he was around? I mean, it does explain a lot about him… Why didn't they tell us? Well… I would have probably treated him worse and definitely stayed away from him more… It could seem like he himself was the demon sometimes, but he's not, right? Nahhh… he's too good-natured to be evil… although he does get quiet a lot more recently and he does get serious even more then he used to. Of course, I haven't really been around him much since he came back… He has gotten way stronger, he took down the Akatsuki guy even Kakashi-sensei couldn't… He even developed a jutsu the 4__th__ couldn't.' _The thoughts kept bubbling up in Ino's mind ever since she saw it. That thing had completely changed the way she looked at Naruto. _'He seems so… different now, almost like a different person than the one who would act like an idiot, just to get… attention. He was always alone wasn't he? He never had anyone… at all. I can't believe he went through all that, even now he must put up with the pain.'_

"Ino, are you okay?" Naruto asked with concern, "You've been staring at the fire for almost half an hour. They had captured most of the gang's members, thanks to the Oodama Rasengan, and handed them over to the town. They still had another day's trip left to return to Konoha, but decided to stop for the night along a river. The sun was about to set, casting a warm glow over the river's face illuminating their camp site with a beautiful mixture of yellow and bright orange.

Ino looked up to see Naruto's face outlined in the light, almost glowing as his hair was shaded to matched his face. His blue eyes looked on, questioning her expression. She saw through his happy exterior and remembered what the voice had said about him being saddened and depressed. She had never taken into mind how distanced he must've felt. "I'm fine," she eventually replied as the sun moved lower across the mountains in the distance. Their shadows grew against the dark grass. The view was beautiful, the water dancing in the light as it made its journey down stream, continuing its purpose in life. She smiled weakly, still looking at him while Naruto's glance shifted upward into the sky.

"It's nice here, huh?" His voice broke the silence that had suddenly grown over the crackling fire. He was looking back at her now, deep blue slits piercing her pale cyan eyes, attempting to read her mind.

Naruto was annoyed at his team mate at the moment. On the way up, she couldn't stop talking and now she was withdrawn and quiet. He didn't like her attitude, she was definitely hiding something but it was damn near impossible for him to try to understand her. "Back in the warehouse, it felt like I had passed out for a couple of moments," he paused, wanting to phrase his sentence carefully, "Are you sure that nothing happened?" The words were dragged from his mouth, lingering overhead, patiently waiting for an answer.

"Well… You had jumped down and was about to move on when a group of workers came in. You were surrounded but they hadn't noticed you yet. So, I uh… used my jutsu to get you back to safety."

"You mean the one where you confuse the enemy or the one where you transport yourself into someone's… mind." There wasn't need for an answer, as dense as Naruto was sometimes, he could still be sharp enough to pick something like this up. "You saw it didn't you? You saw him. That's why you've been silent since we left, isn't it." The sentence seemed stale as it moved over the gentle fire.

"Ino was taken back at how fast he had picked it up. "I, I didn't mean to. It's just that you were er-, cornered and that was the only way to, you know, keep us from failing the mission." She struggled to say everything.

"Are you going to tell anyone? The others who don't know yet?" He looked up from the glistening fire, now looking at her with a solemn gaze. She saw how hurt he was, having someone just invade his mind like that. Having access to every feeling, every secret stored there. She had complete control of his body as well, something else he was scared of. "I think Sakura knows something but only Sasuke has seen him. Back when we…" he broke off again, recalling the memories of seeing his comrade with his sword drawn at him.

"No," she said after a couple of minutes. The thoughts of the demon were still holding her concentration, keeping her from looking him in the eye. "What is it like? I mean, do you wanna talk about it?" Silence reclaimed the conversation shortly after.

A few minutes passed, Naruto opened his mouth to say something but only his lips moved. Slowly he brought himself to say, "I don't know… The only one who has ever really talked before with me was Kakashi-sensei. Yamato-sensei knows as well, he had to help me with my training a lot because of something Tsunade-baachan said. They told me that Akatsuki was looking for all of the Jinchuurikis, like me, so they had me develop that jutsu that I used. That's also the reason Ero-sennin took me with him for all that time."

She was stunned at far Konoha had gone to cover this up. Only the adults knew about him, how he was sentenced to live a lonely life in order to save the village that had ostracized him. "I'm so sorry, nobody knew, you were always so happy or goofing off…" Her face was softened by his warm facade even when he was forced to remember all of his turmoil.

"The Third punished all those who let on about me being… his container. He tried to uphold what the Fourth had done. He told me it was to let everyone see me as a hero, not some monster. Even the Fifth doesn't allow people to discuss it. I guess people like us have to deal with being hated and excluded." The thoughts burned as he recalled the day everyone left the playground with their parents, while he was forced to sit alone, looking at the horizon. Tears streaming down his face, eyes a flame with determination, he vowed to be acknowledged. "That's why I was so set on being Hokage, it isn't for the power, I just wanted to be acknowledged."

His words struck Ino as he basically spilled his life before her, hoping for someone to hold onto. Someone to love him and treat him with respect. Even a pompous brat like Ino could see the boy who had been tossed aside by the village. She stood up and moved gracefully across their camp. She sat quietly next to him, expecting him to break out into tears. Instead he turned and wrapped his arms around her neck, happy to have someone to understand something about him.


	2. Around the Fire

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Edited and revised.

**Around the Fire**

They had been like that, his arms around her neck, for almost five minutes now. Ino didn't entirely hate the feeling of having him wrap his arms around her. She felt protected, comforted at having him right there next to her. She smelt him, on his jacket and in his hair. It was overpowering her nose, but it was nice. She felt better, being his source of comfort.

He continued to hold on, wishing for her to accept him, for anyone to accept him. He just wanted someone to acknowledge him, not the beast inside that created chaos and fear so many years before. He had been forced to live with the Kyuubi's taunts whenever he would be given power. It would sicken his body to have to suppress all of his anger and sorrow. "Thank you," he said briefly before thinking more of his embrace. He felt her hands crawl up his back and wrap themselves around him.

---

It had been a week since they completed their mission. They had returned to Konoha safely, each knowing more about each other. Ino had learned a lot of his past, why he was such an idiot at the academy, how he had learned his new jutsu and how he had been trained by Jiraiya to control the Kyuubi's power to some extent.

"Hey Ino, are you okay?" She looked up suddenly at Shikamaru who had suddenly asked the question. They were eating at Chouji's favorite restaurant after a long training session.

"Yeah, sure. Why?" She was distracted by a small piece of meat on her plate almost immediately after answering.

"You seemed off today at training and even now you have a different look on your face." Shikamaru still stared relentlessly at her, after all, he was known for his scrutiny.

"It's nothing, leave it alone." Her reply signaled that she was done with the conversation. The plate before her was still covered in food, Ino only having taken a few bites.

"You have seemed different since you got back from your mission with Naruto… Did something happen?" Chouji had stopped eating long enough to ask.

"I said leave it alone." She began to get up to leave, when she turned and said, "I'm just a little stressed is all, don't worry about it, okay?" In reality she was stressed, the thoughts of Naruto holding on to her and been just beneath the surface of her mind for an entire week now. She couldn't tell herself to forget about how nice it was to be held like that. She found it sad that they broke their embrace when the fire had gone completely out, leaving them in the faint glow of the moonlight as it played across the water. She thought it as so romantic to be like that, trusted and alone in the woods with someone.

"Yo, Ino." The voice belonged to Naruto as he ran to catch up with her. "How've you been?" He still barricaded himself with a smile around the village, never really portraying his true emotions.

"Okay, you?" They still put on a show in public, not wanting anyone to think that they had something going on between them. They both had busy lives as shinobi and only had gotten to talk once since the mission. She looked over and saw that he was real sweaty and his hands seemed to be burned a little.

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei had me train longer today with my Fuuton: RasenShuriken. He said that if I had enough chakra control, I could use it more often then life or death situations." Images filled her mind of the only time she had ever seen it. He was exhausted and injured for a week afterwards but the damage… The chakra was amazing; covering everything with a mammoth explosion. The crater had to be at least a kilometer wide. "How was your training?" The question brought her back to the present.

"Okay," she said smiling, "not as action-packed as yours though. We mainly worked on our formations and strategy today, as usual."

Naruto opened his mouth in response but was cut short by a low growl that escaped his stomach. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I've been training since this morning. I wasn't even allowed to take a break to have lunch."

"I think Ichiraku Ramen is only a couple of blocks ahead, want to have a quick bite?"

"Okay…" he was waiting to see if it was a joke. Ino herself was surprised at the statement she just said. This could look like a date to some people. Was it even socially acceptable to be seen on a date with Uzumaki Naruto? _'I mean, he has made a name for himself now, he even seems more mature than last week. He's so much stronger and smarter than he used to be. Naruto, have you always been like this?' _She continued to think to herself as Naruto lead the way to his favorite ramen hut.

"O-chan!" Naruto said enthusiastically as he moved the thick cloth aside at the front of the store. "Two bowls of miso ramen please. That's okay with you, right?" He inclined, looking back at Ino while his hand still held the heavy drape.

Her head nodded slightly at the question. They both sat down, waiting for their dinner. "Hey Naruto-kun, where have you been? We haven't seen you in a while." Ayame asked out loud while carrying in a box of cooking supplies in from the back.

"Oh, umm… Kakashi-sensei has kept me busy training and Tsunade-baachan gave me a tough mission with Ino last week. Sorry, I've been really focused on trying to perfect my jutsu." Hot bowls of steaming ramen appeared before the two. "Itadakimasu." Naruto cried happily before taking a piece of pork off the top of his dish.

Ayame and Teuchi both noticed something weird about Naruto. Instead of devouring his meal like usual, he was keeping a steady pace and taking his time with it, much like Ino next to him. He didn't even do that with Sakura.

"Here you go," Teuchi said, sliding the check across the bar to Naruto. He reached for Gama-chan, only to get a snort from Ino.

"What is it?" he asked mildly confused.

"What is that?" she replied holding in another outburst at the sight of the frog purse.

"Are you mocking Gama-chan?" questioned a shocked Naruto. He waited a few moments before pulling out the money for both their dinners.

'_Good, he at least has some of the old Naruto in there. I thought he was completely different from before, but he is still a loudmouth goof-ball sometimes.'_ She took another minute to look at him, marveling at how much he had changed since then. _'Of course, I never really paid much attention to the old Naruto…'_

His hand reached out to pull aside the cloth once more, waiting for his unofficial date to pass before continuing himself.

"I don't like her with Naruto; he didn't eat nearly the same he usually does. He was acting different around her too. Didn't you notice?" Teuchi asked his daughter before going back to deep frying noodles.

"Yeah, but… he seemed happier, didn't he? I hope he stays like that." Ayame answered quietly before heading back into the depths of their store.


	3. Training

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

Summary: Naruto and Ino have been spending more time together, now the relationship must grow, but how?

A/N: Edited and revised.

**Training**

"Okay good job today. Let's meet back here tomorrow at dawn. See you then." And with that, Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of white smoke from the training field.

"Ne, ne Sakura-chan." Naruto mumbled while moving over to the pink haired kunoichi. "You're pretty good friends with Ino still, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Sakura replied with a puzzled look. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, I was just wondering if you could ask her something for me… Never mind." He turned to leave when she ran up along side him.

"What is it? I'll tell her," the ninja asked, wondering what business Naruto would have with Ino.

"Ask her to meet me at the Hokage monument after sundown, alright?"

"Okay…"

"Thanks, see you tomorrow." His body moved away, hopping every few steps in a black blur.

'_Does he expect her to actually go? Are they dating or something…?_' Sakura paused to chuckle at the thought of Ino being into Naruto_, 'Oh well, at least he has been less annoying recently… is this why? I think Ino-pig might be finishing up with her training now too.'_ Her body moved in the opposite direction as his, making her way to the team 10 training field.

The leaves of various branches skimmed the girl's skin as she expertly made her way through the thicker foliage. She stopped only once, allowing herself to recapture her bearings after being distracted by a squirrel. Her body lunged from the canopy just in time to see the newest formation of her comrades. _ 'Wow, they actually train for battle… Naruto and I just beat stuff up or train our stamina. Maybe we should do that...'_

"See you later, Ino."

"You too, Shikamrau. Bye Chouji," Ino responded in a friendly tone, watching her teammates leave the field before heading over to her bag.

"Hey, Sakura," the blonde's statement brought Sakura back to earth, who had just spent the last couple of moments wondering how they got along so well.

"Ino, Naruto asked me to tell you something...," She paused at how stiff the blonde kunoichi's body got at the mention of the name. She waited for her to continue packing her stuff but she stayed the same way with her back faced to Sakura. "He told me to ask you to meet him at the Hokage Monument at sunset, okay?" Ino had still stayed motionless.

"Thanks Sakura," her reply was brief, just like their meeting. "I'll go, goodbye." She picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulder in one quick motion, preparing to leave the near vacant field.

"He wouldn't tell me anymore, is it something important?" Sakura was very intrigued at her friend's actions. Her thirst for details grew with the slight confusion.

"It's nothing major, bye," Ino vanished silently, trying to evade more pressing questions.

---

Naruto sat perched high upon the great faces that watched over the hidden village. The mammoth guards who would defend their homeland, once prepared to give their lives to save its peaceful sanctity. This was his favorite place to come and look down upon the people he too wanted to be acknowledged by.

"Hey Naruto," Ino's calm voice carried him back from his reverie, leaving his thoughts alone with the enraged beast chained down in his mind.

"Hey," his voice sounded exhausted, almost incapable of bringing the single word out of his mouth. "I was wondering if you wanted to do something. Maybe go for a walk or sit back and talk..."

She changed her gaze from him to the orange sun that cast a comforting shadow over the village. "It's nice, huh?"

"Yeah, like it's letting the darkness overtake the lives of everyone, only for a moment, to let them fall into the inviting arms of sleep. It's nice to know that even the sun must take a break from its position in the sky and let the moon bring down the cool air unto us all. The never-ending balance of life. I think it reminds us that we each must take a rest every now and then and fall back into someone's protection instead of remaining constantly vigilant, don't you?"

She was taken back at the comment. Ino only saw the sunset as a beautiful scene to signify the day's end, _'I had no idea you thought like that, Naruto. Where was this side of you in the academy?'_ Her mouth hung open slightly at what a different type of person he was sometimes, yet in the end, it was always the same Naruto.

He moved over on his rock, allowing her plenty of room to join him to watch the people move like dots along the ground so far away. "That was pretty deep, you know? Why aren't you like that more often?" Her question was warm as she scooted next to him.

"I don't know, it is just easier to joke around then do this sometimes..." He leaned back, positioning most of his weight on his palms. His head turned and his eyes set themselves on Ino, who was still to trying to grasp the full meaning of the sunset.

The feeling of paranoia was too much, his eyes on her face was starting to make her uncomfortable. "What are you staring at?"

"You. You look... different in this light. It makes you look even more... beautiful than normal. I can't explain it right, it just is," He stopped, allowing her to hide her blush at his comment. "Thanks Ino."

"For what," her response was quiet as her blush was slowly starting to disappear, "I should be thanking you."

"For talking to me like this. I didn't know many people who would treat me as a person, not as a monster. Only Iruka-sensei, the Third, and Team 7 mainly. Now everyone acts nicer around me, but you know... it still hurts sometimes, not knowing if you really are alone or not."

Her eyes shifted to his. Fear and sadness reflected out, showing that his mind had been engulfed in loneliness in the past. She continued to watch him, even after the sun finished its journey across the far away horizon. The feeble glow shone up from the prosperous village below, the occasional sound being heard. They were alone, on the rock, looking out into the faintly glowing sky, not really expecting much but the complete light to be fully extinguished by the looming mountains.

"I have to get up early for Kakashi-sensei's training in the morning. I think its best I head home by now..." Naruto became instantly silent as he felt a warm hand latch onto his own. His eyes immediately darted back to Ino, who still peered out to the world, almost oblivious as to what her hand was doing. He smiled and sat back, still holding her fingers in his palm. He enjoyed the warmth being passed through her digits into him, overloading his hand with feeling.

From several meters behind the rock, two emerald eyes looked forward, wide in astonishment at the sight. _'I had no idea Naruto and Ino_... _When was he this smart and quiet? Why the hell doesn't he do that around me?'_

_**'Probably because you hit him and reject him when he tries to ask you out,'**_ Inner Sakura replied coolly, _**'Maybe if you were a third as nice to him as you were to Sasuke-kun...'**_

_'Shut up, he always acted like an idiot, what was I to expect from him?'_

_**'You could have been nicer; he did save your life a lot, even when Sasuke-kun couldn't...'**_ The alternate personality let the spite-filled comment linger in Sakura's mind.

_'Still... why did he pick Ino?'_

---

"Damn it! Where is Kakashi-sensei? He's the one who told us to be here early!" Naruto had grown angrier over the last hour, waiting to hear some lame excuse for his Sensei's tardiness.

"You know that he would only have us do basic training exercises, we can do those by ourselves. Want to train together?" Sakura thought of the only thing to possibly shut him up.

"I don't know..." he paused, thinking of how powerful she was in their training mission to get the bells just after returning. His jaw still hurt some when he stretched it too far from when she got pissed at him after seeing each other for only five minutes. "...just try not to kill me, okay?" The uncertainty was obvious in his voice, when it came down to it; he was scared of her when she would start a rampage.

"I'll be gentle on you," the sarcastic reply rang out up to the atmosphere until a gloved hand pulled up and struck tremors into the ground. Naruto instantly jumped to avoid the hellish terrain created by a single punch.

_'It would be best to fight at a distance here, huh?'_ His hand swiped a fistful of shuriken as the retaliation rained down. She ran and dodged them, lunging forward to strike the tree he was standing near. The cracking echoed throughout the area, causing an uneasy feeling to those who heard it. _'Damn, she might actually hurt me if I'm not careful.'_ He hurled himself backwards, grasping at a branch while simultaneously letting off a small smoke bomb. He formed a single hand sign, calling forth a dozen more soldiers to fight his enemy.

All around Sakura, blurs appeared to strike. She brought her fist into the ground, forcing a blast of energy to escape her hand. Three poofs could be heard as the jutsu was defeated. She still had ten more to deal with and she was already blinded. A kunai swept through the smoke and drew blood as it slit her arm. Twenty more appeared, only to be blocked by a piece of earth used as a shield. Sakura panted after heaving the makeshift shield to her left at another group of three. _'Now only seven.'_ She let loose into the ground a ferocious punch that cleared out the lingering smoke.

Naruto now sent two clones out to distract her while the other four took positions around the lone kunoichi. She unleashed a small round of kunai to the duo, instantly causing them to dissipate. _'Only five.'_ One foot slid past her field of vision as it kicked her up into the air. A reasonably sized log replaced the body. _'Now where is the original?'_ She jumped down from the small limb to the ground as two massive shuriken flew overhead. _'Damn it! Not Kage Shuriken no jutsu!'_

One shuriken changed back into a clone and grabbed the remaining weapon in midair. The three remaining Narutos came up and forced Sakura to jump into the air, leaving herself defenseless. The orange blur threw it towards her. A moment before impact, a cloud of smoke appeared to reveal another Naruto.

"Heh, heh, I got you," he gloated while his clones ran behind to catch them. Three sets of arms were sent up and successfully saved Sakura from hitting the ground from fifteen feet up. The more poofs and they were left there standing next to each other.

"Wow Naruto, that was... excellent," she looked up from panting wildly to see him breathing evenly, not even dripping a bead of sweat, _'What stamina, it seems to increase every time we meet.'_

"You up for round two yet? That was a nice warm-up," his voice egged her on; wanting to pass the time until his 'real' training could begin.

"That's enough, you two. I can't have my students running around with such unrestrained power; one of you could get hurt," Kakashi was sitting upon a limb that had a nice view of the fight. His hand covered his already shielded face as a single eye followed text across a page in his infamous book. _'Naruto has gotten much better. You are right there Sasuke, constantly pushing forward.'_

"But Sensei, if Naruto or I got hurt, it would give me extra practice in medical ninjutsu and… why were you late? Don't lie this time!"

"Okay, I won't." the small snapping sound went out through the trees as his book returned to his pocket after being closed, "Let's begin."


	4. A Quiet Afternoon

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Here is chapter 4. I know I said I'm make more frequent updates but this chapter took me longer than I thought it would to write. I had to completely rewrite it twice but now I think I've decided on the direction I want to head with this story. Enjoy.

**A Quiet Afternoon**

'It's been almost two weeks since I've really trained…I wonder why Kakashi-sensei hasn't told us when to meet up yet…' Naruto sat in the shade of a majestic sakura tree in the setting sun. He felt the occasional petal fall onto his face for a moment before leaving with the soft wind. He was meditating, something that Jiraiya had been sure to instill in his pupil on their voyage. He figured that with amazing strength and stamina for a boy his age, Naruto ought to have some type of self control of the mind. Part of his training was dedicated to meditation alone. It was supposed to clear his mind, temporarily remove all of his emotions, and allow his body to relax. A calm soldier was always more level headed than one confused by emotions. That was what he learned while away. After seeing so many people throughout the shinobi world distraught and in conflict with others and themselves, he was a soldier: a hired mercenary who would fulfill any request given to him by the Hokage.

It wasn't a hard concept to grasp really. A ninja just had to learn how to control his or herself on the battlefield. Of course this was the most common challenge for any shinobi. Humans were simply too emotional and easily riled up at times. Jiraiya taught Naruto all of this, stressing how important it was for him to stay calm and as stress-free as the situation allowed, that there were times when emotions were a ninja's most versatile and powerful weapon, and most importantly, _his_ emotions were never supposed to get the best of him. If they did, Naruto would lose a bit more of himself to the fox, allowing him to surrender more control the next time it was bound to happen. This was another big part of Naruto's training with Jiraiya and the most difficult. He had to learn how to silence the beast and calm the evil chakra regardless of the situation all alone since Jiraiya had never needed to experience such a thing.

"Today is such a nice day," Naruto mumbled to himself, opening his eyes to glance at the faraway village. His saw the fortified city in the distance, as it glowed with an orange luminescence in the sunlight to his west. "Maybe I should ask for a mission tomorrow… or look for Ero-sennin. I have rarely seen him since we came back…" Naruto mentioned these ideas to a nonexistent second-party, merely enjoying the sound of his voice as it danced with the wind around him. He closed his eyes once more and thought about the fox, how quiet it had been recently. That was very unusual for him, to actually barricade himself with silence from Naruto.

A bird called in the tree behind him. He looked up into the sky and noticed how wonderful the pink meshed with the orange and created the evening sky. He was glad he meditated at this time of day. None of his most trusted friends knew where he would disappear sometimes; they just thought he was going to train or something. Sakura had even given up asking him where he went after a while. She hated it when he kept secrets from her, even though he did all of his life before he returned and a while after that as well. He tried to be honest with her, with them all, but he didn't know how much of their parent's feelings had been passed down a generation. He was happy though, that he had friends. People his age he could fight for to protect, people who cared for him, and people who made his smile just a bit more genuine. He was extremely grateful for all of them after having gone twelve years without more than Sarutobi and eventually Iruka looking after him.

He stood up and wiped the dirt off of his orange pants. His arms stretched out while he began walking home to his village. He knew he wasn't alone, Tsunade was very protective of him and she made sure that he knew that. Two ANBU agents flashed from one tree to another, making sure he was secure. He was one of Konoha's most feared and valued weapons and was treated as such a lot of the time. Akatsuki was still out there, looking for his kind. He needed to be protected within the village, but Naruto was bent on having his meditation. He needed this, it took him a while to explain the whole process to his Hokage but eventually he was allowed to leave for half an hour each day, as long as he was under ANBU surveillance. The terms weren't exactly to his liking but he figured that outside was better than inside his dark apartment, even if he wasn't completely alone like he wanted. At least the ANBU knew how to keep their distance. If he wasn't trained in stealth, there was almost no chance they would have been detected.

Naruto continued walking past the gates that hid his village, waving at the guards along the way. He noticed that the main street was a lot busier today than normal so he charged chakra to his feet and jumped straight onto the top of a building, proceeding to walk at his leisurely pace. By now his escorts had departed, deeming him safe inside the shinobi village. They never spoke to him, never answered his questions, never made themselves known.

He jumped from one rooftop to another, thinking about his growing friendship with Ino. She had been nicer to him recently and he enjoyed their occasional time alone. Naruto relished having someone to understand and talk with him. It soothed the beast when he could express himself to someone like that. His emotions didn't have to be contained like they were before and he got to know someone much deeper. It was too bad not many people knew how smart and capable he was. To Naruto though, that was only an advantage. If people underestimated him in battle, he was even more likely to win. He had proved that once against Kiba and again with Neji. It was nice being the mysterious genin in his advanced rank group, no one ever could fathom what was going on inside his head, but one had seen it.

---

Ino sat idly by in her family's flower shop. She looked out at the mass of people moving down the street. Boredom had kicked in about an hour after she took over the store for the evening. Luckily her parents promised to be back before dark, so she only had a little bit of time to go. She saw Sakura come near the store, stop and turn around, but then come back to the entrance. She walked in and browsed near the front for a while. "Hey Forehead, what are you looking for?" she asked after five minutes of watching her friend look through the display quietly.

"Lee over trained himself with Gai-sensei again earlier and I was just going to get him something while he was resting in the hospital…" she answered while still glancing over the freshest daisies.

"He's been doing that a lot more recently hasn't he? Ever since Naruto came back, he's seemed more diligent on training, if that's even possible…"

"Yeah, ever since you told him about Naruto's newest jutsu, he's seems restless unless he's on a training field. I guess he can't let his rival get too far ahead of him." Her hand picked out one and she began walking to the register. "Boys, huh?"

"Yeah…" Ino made the transaction and watched as her friend walked away. _'She seems more distant recently…'_ Sakura stopped before the door, as if thinking something over but left just the same a moment later. _'I wonder what's up with her… she's been acting slightly different for the last few weeks…ever since… I met with Naruto that night…she did ask me to meet up with him there for him…does she think I'm dating him or something?'_ Ino chuckled softly at the thought. _'…although it isn't something to be too terribly embarrassed about nowadays. He has changed a lot in the last three years. He's stronger, smarter, deeper, and he's still he still has that ability to make you trust him… Plus he'd be a good boyfriend. There's no one as loyal or caring than Naruto. He still hasn't forgotten that Sasuke is his teammate, even though he left him for dead after betraying us all.' _The blond kunoichi had given up Sasuke after the Chunin exams when he rejected her once again. She figured that if he was also rejecting Forehead, who he fought alongside with every day, there was probably no chance she'd get him to acknowledge her. Unlike Sakura who still had some feelings left for the traitor. It was still fun to tease her friend's feelings every now and then about when they were younger._ 'How did Naruto lose to Sasuke again…? I remember that Tsunade-sama had to operate on him herself and that he wasn't allowed to do anything other than rest in the hospital. But no one said how he was so injured… Even after that, Naruto still tries to help him come back to the Leaf… poor guy, Sakura said they were like brothers…'_

The bell above the door rang as her parents entered the flower shop, pulling Ino out of her train of thought. She looked up from her gaze with a surprised look on her face at the realization that she had been thinking of Naruto for almost half an hour.

"Thanks Ino, for watching the shop tonight…you can go now." Her mother said while she rearranged some display signs. Inoichi passed the counter and stood behind his daughter, waiting patiently for her to move.

She obliged, "So what did you two do tonight?" as she rounded the corner.

"I took your mother out to dinner, why?"

"No reason…just wondering…" she waited for a few moments than began walking to the front door of the shop. "I'll be back later; I'm going to go train some."

The shinobi watched as Ino left down the street before continuing his examination of the counter with a small smile on his face. He was proud to have a responsible daughter who followed his footstepsb as a ninja. His friends may jest at his lack of a son but he didn't care, his daughter and wife were his pride and joy. Inoichi would do anything for them and they knew it.

---

Naruto took off his orange jacket and threw it on his only chair. He was tired tonight and instant ramen followed by sleep sounded really good to him at the moment. He looked at the various boxes in his cupboard, picking out a roast chicken bowl and began to prepare it. "Damn three minutes…" he grumbled only to himself. He turned to look out his window to help pass the unbelievable amount of time it took for his ramen to be ready. It was only noodles and water, why did it take so long?

A small chipmunk pulled his attention from the purple sky. He watched the feeble creature gnaw at something in the pale light from his apartment window. _'So peaceful.'_ He looked back at the bowl…two minutes left. Why ramen? Why does it take so long?

Naruto looked back outside the window for the little animal. Instead he saw one large eye peering at him over a book. He was waiting on a branch for his yellow haired pupil to open the window.

A non-ninja would have jumped, screamed or at least flinched but not those trained in Konoha. "Hey Kakashi-sensei, what do you need?" Naruto asked after sliding the window open.

"Yo, Naruto." Kakashi said gleefully…as gleefully as Kakashi got. "First thing's this…" he trailed off as his hand reached behind his back. He pulled it to his front revealing a scroll. "You have a mission, from Tsunade-sama herself."

"Why…?" he asked with a confused expression on his face. He took the scroll and examined it. "An A-Rank Mission! What is this?"

"Read it yourself. Anyway, here's the other reason I came by." This time the jounin was holding a basket of fruit with a bento inside. "Eat this…at least try to make one meal a day something other than ramen…" He disappeared in a wave of leaves after that.

"Stupid fruit and vegetables… ramen has vegetables… don't see why I have to eat them…AH! It's done!" He ran over to his bowl of instant ramen (if you can call three minutes instant…) and broke open some chopsticks. "Itadakimasu." That was the only heard before the blond devoured the bowl in less time than it took to make. "Ah…" he threw the bowl into the garbage and headed off to change for bed, all the while forgetting the scroll from his sensei on his counter.

A/N: A bit slow, I realize that, but necessary for the next few chapters. I'll try to get chapter 5 up sometime soon. And I know Naruto may seem a little OOC here, but it made sense to me that he take up some form of meditation. Simply yelling at the Kyuubi wouldn't quiet it down so a calmer mind seemed to leave a more lasting piece of mind for him. Other than that, review if you to. Any constructive criticism is appreciated and I'm more likely to devote time to writing more.


	5. A Dream

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Happy holidays. Chapter 5 is here…Enjoy.

'_---'_ Enter/exit dream sequence

**A Dream**

Naruto woke up before dawn again. He had been doing that for a while now. It was a bit annoying that no matter what time he fell asleep, he was up early, even when he only got a few hours of sleep. At least he was better prepared nowadays, which wasn't the worst thing in the world….although he did prefer sleep.

He strolled over to his cabinet and pulled out a box of ramen, ignoring the scroll delivered to him the night before. From what he read, he didn't need to be at the Hokage's office for another two hours but it still piqued his interest as to what he was assigned. His last A-rank involved the Akatsuki as did the one before that so it was only natural to wonder what was going on this time. Naruto walked over to his window on the other side of his apartment with ramen in hand. He slurped down some noodles quietly while watching the sun rise in the distance.

After eating his meager breakfast, Naruto went to his favorite training field. Team Seven's old field where he had his first mission: retrieve the bells. Good times.

The boy looked across the field, taking in the landscape. _'It's been a couple of months since I returned with Ero-sennin…I don't feel like I've improved much…Why? Why can't I do better? Why does it all keep happening to me?'_

"**You need to train more, kit. You're still inferior if you keep those emotions bottled up. Release them. Emotions are more powerful to you humans than anything."**

'_Kyuubi!? Why are you talking now? You've been silent for a while now.'_

"**Kit, I've been thinking of your strength. So far, you have grown more and more powerful on your own, but now I think it is time for you to merge some of my chakra into your body…permanently. By doing this, you can break unimaginable limits. Are you interested?"**

'_Why are you offering this to me now? Why not three years ago when I nearly died!? Why not when I had two and a half years to train with a sannin? Why now?'_

"**If I gave you this ability then, you would have died. Even now I'm not certain you'll live…but there is some trouble brewing. I can feel an ominous power rising up from the Akatsuki. They will demolish you if you try to fight them as you are now. I can help. If you lose, my soul will be locked in another vessel. At least now I have some freedom. If they capture me, the Uchiha will use my power to obliterate the other villages, including Konohagakure. Is that what you want?"**

'_What does Sasuke have to do with this?'_

"**There is more than one Uchiha, kit."**

'_Itachi…? Why is he involved?'_

"**You really are an idiot… There is only one other remaining Uchiha in this world. But that is not important now. What is important is what power he wields. He can- no will- kill anyone who steps in his way. You are a Jinchuuriki. You hold the most powerful of the bijuu inside you, me. He needs me to fulfill his plan. For now, you are safe…but in less than one year's time, he will seek you out with every ounce of strength he holds. You **_**will **_**die, kit. That is guranteed."**

'_Why do you know all this?'_

"**I am a fox demon, Kyuubi no Kitsune. I have unfathomable power and strength but it is limited. My species is advanced compared to yours in many different ways, one of them being charting the stars to foretell the future. My elders told me of a boy who would be closely intertwined in my life. They said that he would be the bringer of destruction or eternal peace to his world. Naturally I discarded such nonsense but it seems as if what I was told is falling into place. The other beasts that you pathetic humans try to wield as weapons have been told similar legends. 'A single human who will write the history of the Earth.' They said that I must help this child any way I could. If not, my own world will fall as well. Therefore, if I am forced to stay in here with you, my power will weaken to the point where a lowly human like yourself could kill me in an instant. That is why I must transfer some of my chakra unto you. We will both benefit from it… That is all you need to know at the moment. Just know that my kind has never been wrong when predicting the future."**

'_Why should I trust you? The most you've ever done is giving me your chakra out of amusement or when I am inches from death!'_

"**Listen kit, I am far more powerful than you. If not for this seal, I would escape and show you who the superior being is. Now listen to me; Uchiha Sasuke is currently working with Orochimaru. That will change soon enough. He has the potential to surpass Madara himself; therefore he won't allow himself to be controlled by a weak person. You need to beat him before he does that. Only you can restore balance to this world. If you fail, my realm will open and I shall return to my dimension. When that happens, Akatsuki will win. Everyone you know and love will die. You will lose! There will be no second chance, no do-over. You will lose everything…and eventually, so will I. Now then, are you ready for this ability or not?"**

'_I will consider it…but not now. I can't think straight now. Arrgh…!'_

Naruto broke the bond that the Kyuubi had just created. He needed to do something, anything. Where the hell did that come from!? Out of nowhere the demon just demands he take this 'gift' or else everything would go to hell. Why did he have to deal with it? Why did he have some much stress? Why did he have to kill the person he considered family? Why did he have to save the world? Why?

---

Naruto walked cautiously towards the far side of town. He looked up at the Hokage monument in the distance. He scoured the buildings for a glimpse of red. He spotted it and broke into a run. The mission briefing was in less than an hour but he could find something to do in the meantime at the Hokage building. He no longer wanted to train. The mental stress the Kyuubi placed on him no longer than twenty minutes ago was distracting him enough. Hopefully he could place it out of mind for a while until after his mission was complete. Then he could work on finding a solution. _'Damn fox…picking the most inopportune moment to tell me the fate of the world rests on my shoulders.'_

The blond looked up at the entrance way, noticing a bluish blur moving down the spiral staircase. It stopped suddenly, picked something up, and then continued running until it reached the ground. Naruto looked on, trying to identify the person. It slowed down to a steady jog, the pile of papers and folders in her arms appeared to be heavy from what Naruto could tell. He recognized her as Shizune.

"Hey, Naruto-kun. How're you this morning," She asked politely as she saw him approach her.

"Fine…I guess. What's up with all this," he responded, motioning to the mountain of paper.

"Tsunade-sama's friend came into town yesterday and so she abandoned her paperwork to go drinking with him. Now I have to make up for lost time…" She trailed off with an annoyed look on her face.

"I see. Well, I have a mission briefing to go to, do you want me to take that with me to her office?"

"Really!? That would be a huge help, thank you, Naruto-kun." She lifted the pile into his hands after saying that. He struggled a bit, being taken off by the surprising weight of it all.

Naruto regained his composure and asked, "Is this only one day's worth of work? It's a lot."

"Being Hokage isn't only running around and completing impossible tough missions, it's more red-tape than anything. I doubt that Tsunade-sama knew what she getting into when she signed up…but I think she enjoys it nonetheless." She smiled at the younger shinobi.

"Yeah…but that still doesn't mean anything. I'm going to become Hokage, no matter what type of crap I have to go through.

She just smiled in response. "Well, thank you again for delivering that for me, I have to go and get started on _today's_ work now…" With that, she disappeared in a cloud of smoke and left a slightly disturbed boy behind.

'_Damn this is a lot of work…'_

---

Naruto walked into the large room, noting the Hokage slumped over her desk with a bit of drool hanging off her lip. 'She'll kill me if I wake her up…'

He placed the papers gently on her desk and stepped back. He looked at the clock, 'Twenty minutes to go. I wonder what I should do until then.' It was about this time that he noticed the comfy looking couch in the furthest corner of the room. He yawned then gazed down at the Hokage. 'Might as well…'

He slumped down into the cushion and nodded his head back, looking up at the amber ceiling. It glowed faintly in the morning light. 'So peaceful…' And then he fell asleep.

_---_

_Naruto looked into the darkness that surrounded him. He saw nothing, but knew that there was something there. A figure rose up from what could be considered the ground, as it was too dark to tell what it really was. It was shrouded in a cloak, blacker than the atmosphere that surrounded them both. Naruto's hair stood on end for some reason. _'This can't be good.'_ The being moved closer. Two eyes were revealed. Both dyed a deep crimson. The tomoe spun once then stopped, focusing on the blond. _

"_How are you doing, Naruto-kun?" The masked man asked in the silent blackness. _

"_What do you want?" Naruto asked, unconsciously becoming angry. _

"_What's with the mean attitude, Naruto-kun? I'm hurt."_

"_Don't be coy with me, dammit! Where am I?"_

"_It's your mind, you tell me."_

"_Arrgh!" Naruto lunged at the Uchiha, his rage growing by the second. "What are you doing here?" His fist made impact. At least he thought it did. Itachi moved and appeared behind him. _

"_Is that how you normally treat a guest, Naruto-kun?"_

"_What do you mean 'guest', you bastard?" _

_This time Itachi was the one to strike first. He brought a kunai up to Naruto's face and nearly struck him in the eye had it not been for the blond ducking low. He jumped back, an orange blur. "Why do you run, Naruto-kun?"_

_Another figure rose up from the ground near Itachi. This one had long blond hair. His hands draped down, tongues licking at his palms. Beside him, a blue man appeared, his teeth shining brightly, despite there being no identifiable source of light. He hand clutched his sword lazily. _

"_What's going on here?"_

_There was no answer, only silence as yet another figure rose from the darkness. This one had two large sets of…teeth? They seemed to have grown past his face, further into the air. Only half of his face was viewable, the other cloaked in the nothingness. What was seen was paler than an empty night's moonlight. His face was indifferent and he only stood there as a woman dropped from the sky. Her hair was held up by a paper flower: a product of origami. It looked purple in the dim glow. She looked at the boy with an almost sadistic grin on her face. Near her, a man began walking forward and he too joined the growing line of people that stood before the Leaf nin. The newest man's nose was covered in symmetrical piercings, his eyes had small circles revolving outward from the near blank pupils. In the center of the line of people there was a blank spot. Then there was a low rumble and a man shot up from the ground with blinding speed. He landed in front of the rest of everyone, his head lowered. The last man's face was hidden by an orange spiral style veil, masking it entirely. There was only one hole in it, but it was blackened out. He raised his head and looked towards the young ninja before him. He opened the one visible eye, revealing…_

"_The Sharingan!? You're the _other_ Uchiha _he_ spoke of!? What the fuck are you guys doing here? What do you want with me?"_

"_We want _**him.**_" The orange faced man said abruptly. "We _will_ get him from you, Uzumaki Naruto."_

'This chakra is intense, it almost rivals _his._ Shit, what do I do!? Kyuubi, help me, now!'

_There was only silence. Naruto saw the enemy. They were here for a reason. He just needed to find out what that reason was. _'Running is my only option now, I can maybe take one of them at a time…but that many will finish me off like it's nothing. _He turned and charged his legs with as much chakra as possible. Naruto looked over his shoulder at the line of people. Not a single one of them had even made an attempt to stop him. _'Why aren't they following me? He just said that he wanted the Kyuubi. Shouldn't they try to at least capture me or so-'

_He stopped thinking. A large and deadly source of chakra had just appeared in front of him. It was nearly impossible to find out where it was or how far away, but he at least knew it was there. He skidded to a halt. Behind him, the group of missing nins still showed no emotion about him leaving and now there was this new person in front of him. Then there was another. And another. Then two more sprouted up, one on his left, the other his right. They had him fully surrounded, and not a single one had let their enemy see them. Naruto began to panic._

'This chakra feels _exactly_ like one of those guys back there. But it's different somehow. Who are these people?'

_High in the sky, a blood colored moon appeared. The once black ground gleamed with an eerie red in the light. It made Naruto's skin crawl, especially since he could now see each of the people who had surrounded him. Fear rose up, replacing the usual false happiness and confidence. This was serious._

_All around him there was red. Each of the enemy's eyes glared at him with burgundy pupils as his own flesh seemed to reflect the demonic color. At once, they all vanished, only to show up right next to him in a circle. Resorting to the last bit of strength he could find, Naruto launched himself into the air and tried to let loose a hailstorm of kunai. Each reflected harmlessly away from the figures below. He fell back into the circle, hopelessly defeated amongst the strongest enemy he had ever met before. _

'Kyuubi, please, help me!'

_Still there was no answer. No help. Nothing. Only a lone Jinchuuriki to face some of the most dangerous people in the world, alone._

_They each took a step closer, their chakras combining in the pale red sky. Then there was only pain. Immeasurable pain._

_---_

Naruto woke up, gasping for breath. He looked around the room and saw two men near the Hokage's desk. They were talking about something…probably about his mission. He saw that almost twenty minutes had passed while he was asleep, if you could call that sleep. Still he breathed heavily, trying to calm his body after that mental ordeal. '_What the hell was all of that?'_

"**That was the enemy kit. Do you still want to take them on single handedly?"**

"Naruto, care to join us?" Tsunade inquired from across the room. She looked mildly hung-over.

He stood up and walked over, trying to reclaim his bearings after that…nightmare. "Sorry…I guess I was pretty tired." He laughed it off casually, hoping not to raise too much suspicion.

"Anyway, now that everyone is present, we can begin the mission assignment. Yesterday the leader of a small village about 250 km south of here reported several of their police force disappearing within the last two weeks. This is a troubling matter since intelligence suggests that there might be an Otogakure base stationed near there. As you all know, the Otogakure is headed up by the missing nin, Orochimaru. His activities seemed to have recently picked up and now we fear he may be scheming to destroy Konoha once and for all. That is why this team will go to Kakeru and eliminate all Oto-nin in the surrounding area."

Naruto was slightly distractred by his dream but still maintained focus on the Hokage. At least now he had an excuse to release some stress.

Tsunade continued, "There is also evidence that a high ranking Oto-nin will be in charge of this base. According to the latest ANBU report, it could even be Kabuto, Orochimaru's right hand man. You all know what this means. Orochimaru isn't too far behind him if it is Kabuto located at this base. This may be an important factor in how this war will end up. If we allow too much freedom in that area, our problems will only increase." She sat back in her chair, still wearing a small frown. Tsunade gazed wearily at the shinobi before her: a close combat expert, an ex-ANBU elite, and a master interrogator. "Right now, this is the only thing we can afford to send out on this mission. You are to head south, rendevous with Kakeru and then assault the Oto base. Be careful, and return alive. You're dismissed."

She waited as all three of them turned and began to file out of her office. "Naruto, wait a moment please."

He obliged and shifted his body in order to face her. "Yes?"

"You know more than anyone what it means if it _is_ really Kabuto there. We haven't picked up much of Orochimaru's activity in the past few months. The only reason I'm sending you on this mission is because of what Sasuke means to you. Please stay safe. You're the only one of your squad that has actually fought with Orochimaru and Kabuto. It is possible that the Akatsuki might make a move while you're on this mission. If that happens, no matter the situation, retreat immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes. Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Naruto turned and exited the room quickly.

Behind him, Tsunade returned to her desk. She reached down and pulled out a small bottle of sake from a hidden drawer. Tsunade leaned her head back and drank deeply. A single tear crawled down her cheek. It always pained her to see someone so young have to go through this type of thing, especially someone as nice and kind as Naruto. He was no longer his playful self when something like this arose. There was no 'Obaa-chan' from him now, and that may have been what saddened her the most. "I'm sorry, Naruto, I really am."

A/N: Since it's been a long while since I last updated (again) here is a little treat. This is the longest chapter yet. And I have some good news: another chapter will be up soon…I think. Either way, I have a nice idea I want to use later on. I'll let you know this, it has to do with his new ability, although you won't be able to read about it for another few chapters. Sorry that this chapter was a little slow but it's necessary for what I have planned. I hope you enjoyed and if so, review.


	6. Kakeru

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: I told you an update would be up soon. Here's chapter 6. Thank you for being patient with me in the last few months. December's been stressful but now that it's the winter break, I can relax and write some new chapters. And I appreciate so many reviews. It really helps. I wanted to post this the other day but I had some bad writer's block and had to rewrite most of it…Anyway, enjoy.

'' – summon speaking

**Kakeru**

Naruto went to the South Gate, bag over his shoulder, small frown on his face. He didn't know what the enemy had in store for him and now Kyuubi had decided to take a vow of silence. At least that would make the next few days easier for him.

"Yo, Naruto. You ready?" The silver haired jounin asked as he dropped from a tree branch.

"Yeah, now we just need to wait for the last member of the team. Who is it by the way? I didn't pay enough attention in the Hokage's office." The blond asked without looking up.

"Yamanaka Inoichi. He's a jounin, like me, and he has mastered his family's mind techniques so he'll be a good asset for interrogation if we manage to capture any high ranking Oto-nins. Ah…here he comes now." Kakashi pointed at the tall blond man walking down the road towards their direction.

"Hello Kakashi-san, Naruto." He nodded and then waited as Kakashi gave out orders.

"I'll take the lead. Inocihi-san, take the middle. Naruto, the back. Understand?"

Both nodded in the affirmative. Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke, the other two following suite.

---

Inoichi looked over his shoulder at the young genin. He noticed that unlike himself or Kakashi, Naruto wasn't near exhausted. He looked fine, like this was part of a leisurely paced walk or just another day. His stamina was unreal, even for a ninja.

"Hold up."

Inoichi and Naruto both looked at Kakashi on this one. They had been running for nearly eighteen hours with only three breaks. Naruto tried to do the math to find out how far they were from Konoha but gave up after forgetting how fast he had been moving.

"The enemy scent is everywhere." The blond looked up then noticed that the stench was indeed all around them. "The report said that they were fifteen kilometers from Kakeru…yet we are only three. Something's not right here." He pulled a kunai from his bag and nicked the flesh on his finger. Kakshi's hands moved at a blinding pace to form the seals. "Kuchiyose no jutsu."

Pakkun appeared next to him.

"Search the area. I need to know what exactly is going on here. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course." The small brown dog leapt into the air then jumped to a tree, quickly blending in with the surroundings.

Something reached Naruto's nose. Something all too familiar. Blood.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you smell that?" Naruto asked with a bit of apprehension in his voice.

"Yeah…be on your guard."

By now Inoichi was definitely confused. They had just a little bit left to go when he was told to stop. Now these two were talking about smells? Something must be ready to go down. He pulled out a fistful of shuriken and a kunai. Naruto just grabbed a scroll.

Pakkun returned several minutes later, reeking of blood. "There was an ambush. There aren't any enemy shinobi all around here, though. I couldn't make it to the town …but from what I could tell…it doesn't look good. Sorry."

He disappeared, a small puddle of the red liquid right under where he was standing.

"There are traps all around here, and from Pakkun said, the villagers may be in trouble. Let's go."

They all took off running towards Kakeru. The smell of blood was intensifying. That was never a good sign. Naruto noticed that Inoichi placed a soldier pill in his mouth. Both jounin were preparing for battle.

It was a little over six minutes later when they arrived just outside of Kakeru. It looked deserted from where they were.

"Something bad happened here, we should go and take a look, right sensei?"

"Yeah, you two go around the side and wait. I'll go in and survey the area. If it looks clear, I'll give you a signal. Go."

The ex-ANBU entered the town, shocked at what he saw. There was blood everywhere. On the city walls. On the ground. On the houses littered about the village. Everywhere. And in the middle of it all, there was a pile of…corpses. The streets it sat on were flowing with the crimson substance. Had he not been trained by the finest Konoha had to offer, Kakashi would have vomited right there.

His hand reached up, unveiling the sharingan, his pupil as red as the scenery. Both eyes scanned the area. There was nothing except blood. But there wasn't a person he could see. A live one at least.

Naruto watched from a distance. The sight before him was repulsive. This was a civilian village, a town for non ninjas! Why would the Sound do this? What reason would they have for committing such a heinous act? Then the boy remembered that it was Orochimaru who commanded them all. His blood began to boil.

Inocihi, who sat not four feet away from the genin could feel the hatred rolling off of Naruto. He could see his anger rising up. There wasn't going to be a single Oto-nin left to interrogate if this boy had his way. Inocihi thanked the gods that he was on this Jinchuuriki's side.

Naruto watched patiently as his sensei gave the signal. There was no waiting for confirmation from his other teammate however before he jumped down. This boy was out for vengeance.

All three of the Leaf ninja stood in the middle of the desolate town, surveying the area for survivors. There were none.

An explosion went off in distance, pulling all of their attention towards it. There stood at least a hundred Oto-nin, being lead by a gray haired man with glasses, Kabuto. If Kakashi had not placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder to calm him, he would seen the boy charge the enemy head on, decimating their numbers, one by one.

A feral growl escaped Naruto's lips. Both men felt the murderous intent coming form the boy. It blew over them like a harsh summer wind, washing away any sense of comfort or peace. There was going to be even more bloodshed today. That much was certain.

"Hello. Do you like what we've done with the place?" Behind him, several Oto-nin chuckled, remembering how they killed all the villagers. If only they knew what their punishment was, they wouldn't be laughing…

"This was a peaceful village. You had no reason to destroy it!"

"Oh yes we did. It was an ally of Konoha. That means it was an enemy. Generally people are supposed to kill the enemy in battle, so that's what we did." Kabuto replied with a smirk, only adding fuel to the fire for Naruto.

That was the last straw. There was no reason to hold back any more. Kakashi let his hand off of Naruto, granting him permission to fulfill his hatred's desire. He whipped the scroll up from his side and streaked a small bit of blood across it in a long trail. In front of him, three frogs appeared, fully dressed in combat armor. This was going to be a long fight.

"Gamakichi, follow Kakashi-sensei. You two go with Inoichi-san. Do exactly what they tell you to. Understand?" There was no nice tone that he usually kept. This was a dead serious mission and he expected them to follow his command.

"Yes, Naruto." The jounin were amazed at how well Naruto was handling himself, especially when he called forth the toads.

"I'm taking Kabuto. Now go!" Kakashi could sense that Naruto had just taken control of the mission. For some reason, this was very personal for him.

Both jounin went the sides, Kakashi left, Inoichi right. This left Naruto to take the front lines. This was about the time when Naruto let all his previous inhibitions go. He rushed at the five chuunin ranked Oto-nin that had placed themselves in front of their commander. They were dead instantly. Kabuto just looked on with amusement as two jounin took their place. Both stood strong and dodged the swipes that Naruto made at their throats easily. The first one however didn't see the barrage of kunai that had managed to lodge itself into his chest. He fell with blood oozing from his uniform. By now, at least a dozen enemy shinobi had surrounded the blond boy.

His fingers crossed in front of him, creating an equal number of Kage Bunshin. Then he pumped chakra into his legs, only to release it a split second later as he jumped twenty feet into the air. He landed just as the last Oto nin fell from the circle. A Rasengan was forming in his right palm. It was filled with the deadly chakra. He lurched forward; nearly hitting Kabuto had an enemy not stood in front of him. The ball of energy collapsed into him, destroying his innards in milliseconds. There wasn't even time for the man to grunt in pain as he fell into Naruto, dead.

The next round wasn't as stupid. They knew when to dodge the lethal blows, which only infuriated Naruto more and more. Red chakra, burning in the twilight, began to make its presence known. Kakashi looked up from the last man he had killed long enough to see his student glowing. His attention was diverted again by an idiot of a ninja who decided to charge him head on. Big mistake as his head was lopped off.

Inoichi also noticed the demonic aura that formed around his teammate. It sent chills down his spine, forcing him to remember the night over fifteen years ago when the Kyuubi attacked. Both toads were fighting nicely, taking the strain off of him. His body wasn't meant to run over 200 kilometers then take on a small army. He never received ANBU training or had a near limitless supply of energy. That soldier pill was helping, just not enough. Three days was a huge exaggeration. Damn advertisers…

Meanwhile, Naruto and his clone army had slain over forty ninja. Kabuto was still unscathed, only watching as his subordinates threw themselves at death. That was all about to change though. Naruto created twenty-five more Kage Bunshins, each forming a Rasengan in hand. It was time to end this. They rammed their hands into the nearest Oto-nin and killed them instantly. Now there was only Naruto and Kabuto on their side of the battlefield, his chakra tail waving fiercely in the night sky.

The silver haired medic nin knew he was out of options, why not toy around with the little bastard before retreating? He channeled some chakra to his hand and began running to Naruto. Two quick slashes and a clone puffed away. Another jab and all the others vanished. Each time a pressure point was hit, Naruto lost more control of his clones, soon enough, his chakra system. He reached down and grabbed the glowing hand, smashing his other into the man's face.

Kabuto looked at the blond genin through broken glasses. He smirked once more as he jumped into the air. Naruto appeared behind him, punching him in the back. Kabuto fell down into the ground, opening his eyes long enough to see an enraged Naruto pumping chakra into his hand for a Rasengan.

"Shit." The ball hit the ground, exploding in a cloud of debris and dust. Both of the Leaf ninja looked at the mayhem before turning their attention back to their share of the enemy.

"Is that all you got, Naruto-kun?" Kabuto asked casually from behind a kneeling Naruto.

Naruto looked down and saw the heavily mutilated corpse of an Oto-nin he killed not five minutes ago. A burst of chakra fired freely from Naruto's hand, aimed directly at Kabuto. He was flung back at least two hundred yards into a tree. Said tree cracked and groaned before snapping.

Someone cried out in pain. Naruto looked over and saw Inoichi being stabbed in the gut by an Oto-nin. Both of his toad summons were being held down by an endless assault while Kakashi and his toad were trying to escape a fire jutsu.

Naruto ran to his comrade, freeing him from the attacker. The Oto-nin fell to the ground, his neck snapped. An explosive kunai was thrown in their direction. Naruto picked up Inoichi and hurled him into the arms of a waiting Kage Bunshin. The explosion went off, killing the wounded Oto-nin in the area. Naruto escaped, just barely. He ran into another group that was preparing to attack Inoichi and his summoned toads. The four, including the Kage Bunshin, were concealed in a mass of gray. Naruto ran in, Rasengan in hand and pounced into the middle of the circle, right on top of an unsuspecting Oto-nin. His skull fell in with the chakra ball.

Naruto could feel his body getting weaker, so he released the tail. Now there were only ten men around Inoichi, the toads and the pair of Narutos. Inoichi could only stare in awe at this boy. Not only had he destroyed over half of the army, he had saved his ass twice and the fight still wasn't over.

Naruto kept glaring at the supposed leader of this band of shinobi. He would be the next one to die. Faster than imaginable, Naruto appeared behind and surged chakra into his spine, melting the flesh into a gelatinous blob below him. After that, he fell to the ground, howling in pain as his bones were melting in on themselves. The other ninja began to back up, away from this…monster. And they thought that Orochimaru was someone to fear…

Naruto smirked slightly at this display of cowardice. This would be memorable for any survivor who managed to escape his wrath. He glanced at both toads; they just nodded in response as Inoichi was grabbed from the ground. The toad duo jumped into the air as Naruto's clone joined his hands around his creator's. Chakra began spinning wildly in Naruto's palm. Then both boys jumped high into the air. Only one returned as Naruto purged his Oodama Rasengan into the dirt. The explosion was phenomenal. Any man near him died instantly as the genin walked away from the cloud. The crater was easily six feet deep and twelve in diameter. Yet Naruto seemed unfazed at his destruction. There were only two things he was concerned with right now: the safety of his teammates and Kabuto's death.

He jogged over to the toads and Inoichi. They all looked fine, except a gash here and there. Then his view shifted to Kakashi. He was managing to fight off the enemy fairly well. "Someone go join Gamakichi." A toad got to work, moving swiftly amongst the devastation and bodies. Naruto brought his hands to his chest, creating another three Kage Bunshins. "You three stay here and protect this man. I'll be back soon."

The genin turned and ran to where Kabuto had been left. He knew he had smashed him into a tree around here…just where? Then he saw the man on top of a house. "I thought Konoha would have taught you not to leave the enemy unwatched, Naruto-kun…oh well."

Naruto lunged at Kabuto who just stepped to his side. His chakra tail was forming again, this time paired with another. "Now Naruto-kun, you should learn to play nice." Kabuto teased.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, revealing a deadly glare, then twisted on the rooftop, his orange chakra casting an reflection on the pale shingles. Naruto created two clones, each with two tails as well. They looked on then disappeared. The first struck at Kabuto from behind. The man easily deflected the hit and knocked the clone in the chest. The second appeared from the cloud then attacked. During this, the real Naruto rushed to Kabuto who only jumped in response. Big mistake. A tail grabbed the man who could only squirm in its grasp. His chest was being squeezed to the point where it nearly collapsed.

The clone swiped at the man, trying to finish him off easily. Instead Kabuto pulled a hand free and jabbed it into the impersonator's face, causing it to disappear in another cloud of white smoke. Naruto growled at his opponent's craftiness. Then again, he wasn't Orochimaru's right hand man for nothing.

"Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!" A stream of fireballs whizzed past Naruto's head, forcing him to drop his prisoner. An Oto jounin ran up beside Kabuto, firing off another round of fireballs. Naruto retreated back ten feet, just out of reach from a close ranged attack. He brought forth the chakra necessary and called upon another Kage Bunshin. Both sprinted towards the Oto-nins, each breaking off into separate directions four feet before them. The clone went around and left a huge wound on the newly arrived jounin while the real Naruto punched Kabuto square in the face.

His face burned a bit as the demon's chakra singed his flesh. Kabuto cast a green aura around his hands and cleansed his face of the scar that was trying to form. Before he had time to stand up, Naruto was behind him, aiming another punch at his collar bone. This one was deadly.

Naruto saw his clone mercilessly beating the surprised jounin as Kabuto managed to flip them around. "NOW!" he called out to his subordinate. The jounin whirled around, as if oblivious to Naruto's clone and sent a fireball towards them both. The fire raced all around Naruto as it burned his skin, leaving several marks along his back and legs. The clone, taken aback by the downright refusal for his opponent to acknowledge him, ripped his side with a particularly long claw. Blood poured freely from the fresh wound as the jounin roared in pain. The chakra made its way into his blood stream, cutting off feeling to much of his torso. That was actually a good thing as the Kage Bunshin began to pound him into the severely damaged roof once more.

Naruto released Kabuto again, focusing his chakra to the new burns on his back. It was healed faster than any medical ninjutsu could ever hope to but by the time his vision returned, Kabuto had vanished. "Damn it!" Naruto cried in anguish. He had really hoped that this was the last time he had to deal with that prick. Slowly, he let the chakra dissolve into nothingness. The night breeze moved over his skin, cooling him instantly. At least he got to let out some rage today.

Kakashi was still outnumbered twenty-two to three, but he still held strong. The toads now looked exhausted at the sight of some many enemy ninja but they continued to fight. Suddenly they both leapt away from the scene of battle, leaving a bewildered Kakashi. A kunai lodged itself in an Oto-nin's face just as two more fell from shuriken wounds to the chest. Kakashi glanced back to see his pupil with two clones pegging down enemy ninja with assorted weapons. The one in the center whipped a scroll out from his pocket and brought out an array of kunai, covered in explosive tags. Kakashi knew instantly what he should do: get the hell out of the way. Just as he landed behind Naruto a huge cloud of smoke filled the sky as fire enveloped each of the surviving Oto-nin. Both clones puffed away as the charred remains of the building they were fighting near became visible. That may have been a little overkill…

Naruto watched as his sensei picked himself off of the ground, whipping the dust from his pants. They both made their way to Inoichi, who was propped up against a toad while the Kage Bunshins that Naruto created stood watch around him. Naruto released the clones quickly. Then he turned to the toads. All three of them were resting against each other.

"Thank you guys, you have a great help to me today." 

"Anytime, Naruto," Gamakichi said, "It was…fun."

"I'll be sure to pay you all back some time, bye." And with that, the summons left.

"Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's look for survivors…"

A/N: A little dark, I know. I plan on making it a bit more…intense later on. Let me know what you think. If you have any questions, let me know. And should I do too many more action scenes or not? I'm not sure how good I am at writing them and I was just wondering if I should keep it a minimum…


	7. After the Battle

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Here's another chapter. Consider it a treat for having to wait so long on my last few updates. Read, review, enjoy.

**After the Battle**

Naruto plopped onto the ground beside Inoichi. He was damn tired. Naruto had killed at least half of that army, and gone toe to toe with Kabuto. His chakra points had been mildly damaged in the fight and some of his internal organs were going to malfunction if he used too much of Kyuubi's chakra for a while. He had every right to rest at the moment. He closed his eyes and let the cool breeze wash over him. An animal howled in the distance, signaling that it was time to hunt for the night.

Kakashi looked at the remains of the town. Most of it was intact. Many of the building still retained their original shape, a little blood here and there, but fine for the most part. Then his eyes fell on where Naruto hit his Oodama Rasengan. The boy's strength still astounded him. It was nearly limitless at times. Had it been anyone else from the Rookie Nine on their team, both jounin would be dead at the moment. Luckily for them, Tsuande knew Naruto was an asset, unlike other people in Konoha. He stretched his back, allowing his neck to pop. He nodded it back and forth several times then looked at his blond student.

"Naruto, help me look for any surviving Oto-nin, will ya?"

The boy simply got up and called forth several Kage Bunshin, each looked almost as tired as the original. "Let's get to work."

The eight shinobi browsed all over the town, only one man had been found alive so far, but when he saw Naruto, he fainted then died. Kakashi said the shock was too much…

Inoichi was trying to help, although his wound made him grunt in pain every time he bent down to move a piece of rubble. Kakashi finally had to convince him to lie down and rest. He grudgingly obliged.

About an hour later a clone called out that he found someone. It was someone that only Kakashi had fought. His brown hair was dyed red from the laceration on his scalp. The man could barely keep conscious long enough to question him on the spot so the ex-ANBU decided it would be best to take him back to the Leaf.

Naruto, who was becoming nauseous to the overpowering scent of blood, opted to settle down somewhere outside of town, preferably upwind. The other two consented. When they finished unpacking, Kakashi offered to take first watch. No one had any arguments with that. All three of them had rushed to get to Kakeru as soon as possible then had to fight a legion of enemy ninja. Needless to say, they were beat, Naruto in particular. Kyuubi's chakra was becoming more concentrated each time he used it nowadays, which meant that smaller doses could be almost as draining as when he went to three tails.

The younger blond changed cloths, discarding his other uniform that was cut up and nearly singed to a crisp in some places before unrolling his blanket from his bag. Naruto was asleep before his head hit his sleeping mat. Meanwhile Inoichi stared into the fire, his thoughts clouded. Kakashi noticed the distant look in his eye and decided to say something over the meager crackling of the fire.

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it? How he manages to do it all."

Inoichi, realizing that the conversation was about Naruto, responded: "Yeah…who taught him to fight that? He was just…everywhere. It was unreal to see him in combat."

"I only taught him basic chakra control, most of which was instructed in the Academy. He made up that style. If you've ever seen him train, you'll know it instantly. That style he uses is basically freeform. Yet there is always some order to it all. One punch can lead to another or a perfect guard. It takes a lot of stamina to maintain though. If his reflexes weren't as they are now, it'd be a useless taijutsu. But for Naruto, it seems perfect. So unpredictable and deadly."

"And he's still a genin?"

"Officially: yeah. But in skill level…he surpassed me years ago. He just hasn't had time to take any exams."

Inoichi fell silent, taking in what he just heard. This boy wasn't even an adult yet he was already more experienced than the two jounin could ever imagine. A shinobi's life was truly remarkable.

---

Naruto woke up six hours later. His body was sore, but then again, it was usually aching when he got up anyway. He saw his sensei leering at the horizon, seemingly waiting for an enemy to attack. To his side, the captured Oto-nin was bound to a tree, his arms and legs tied while a seal rest on his forehead. It was draining his chakra and physical energy away to ensure that he couldn't do anything. There were small cuts all over his body, mostly his shoulders and arms. His sleeves looked burned, most likely from a fire jutsu of some kind. He was lucky to not have faced the Jinchuuriki in battle; there would be much more severe damage to his body then.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei, I can take over from here. You get some sleep."

The silver haired jounin looked at the blond before heading to his sleeping bag. Inoichi snored loudly as he traipsed through the campsite.

Naruto gazed at the stars after Kakashi settled down. The night air was crisp. It moved across his exposed flesh smoothly. Naruto sighed in the near darkness. His shadow danced pitifully in front of him while the fire licked at the last remaining logs. His back seemed to be the only part of him that was warm, as it was closest to the fire. But he stayed still, listening as the wind murmured something barely audible in his ear. It was nice at this time of night.

In the distance, a twig broke. Naruto was up, kunai twirling in his fingers in no time. A deer moved from one side of the campsite to the other, ignoring the normally loud mouth ninja. Naruto sat back down. Damn animals messing with his quiet time…

That reminded him, he hadn't meditated yet today. He began to focus.

He shut his eyelids, allowing himself to slip into his happy place. It was early fall. Just warm enough to not need a jacket, yet cool enough to sit directly in the sun. The ground was littered with nearly dead leaves, each crunching as the blond shifted his weight. On the horizon, the orange sun cast down an amber light across the meadow, setting it on fire with color. The individual blades of grass glistened with various hues. Everything was…orange. Naruto saw the pinkish clouds move at a lackadaisical pace across the sky. They swirled overhead, just out of reach. In the east, a waterfall cascaded down the mountain side, reflecting yellow and red onto the grass around him. The water fell peacefully, creating an oasis just for him.

There was no demon, no fox, no anger, no fear, nothing. Nobody but Naruto. And he smiled…even though he was alone. At least he didn't have to put up with a sadistic fox whose pessimistic attitude always destroyed Naruto's sense of self worth. But that didn't matter now. Here, inside his mind, not even the demon could penetrate his thoughts. Meditation was nice…

In the real world, the winds shifted. They brought with them the stench that had filled the genin's nose all afternoon. The horrible memories that had been created several hours beforehand flooded back into Naruto's mind. That effectively destroyed any sense of tranquility he had obtained.

The blond tried to forget it all. He wanted so much to not recall what had transpired earlier. His stomach lurched. The nausea and grief returned. He knew what he had to do in retribution.

He got up, created a clone and then left. The Kage Bunshin had strict orders to not leave the area. It had more than enough chakra to create more and fight if need be. Naruto just hoped that wasn't necessary.

Because of his and Kakashi's sensitive noses, they had moved three kilometers north of Kakeru. He made his way back to the now empty town. Once in the middle, he created more Kage Bunshins. Each set to work immediately.

---

Both Inoichi and Kakashi awoke about the same time. They were greeted by Naruto, who had begun working on breakfast: some rice balls and fresh water. It beat the manufactured crap that came in plastic bags that the ANBU were forced to eat…

About twenty minutes later, both stomachs were full and the jounin were packing up their supplies.

Naruto ran into camp, covered in dirt…and blood. He popped his clone on the head to make it disappear. His teammates were now confused as to what the boy had been doing, and why he needed a Kage Bunshin to cover for him.

"Naruto…where were you?"

"I needed to do something. So I did it." The answer was short and vague, very much unlike Naruto.

"Why are you covered in blood? Where you attacked?" Inoichi asked. It didn't appear so, his clothes weren't torn.

"I went to bury the people of Kakeru. It didn't seem right to just leave them so I put their souls at rest. That's it."

Both men shut up at that. The though never occurred to either of them yet the boy who nearly failed at the Academy was sensible enough to help someone in the afterlife.

Naruto packed his stuff quickly, ignoring the occasional look from his teammates. He wanted to get their prisoner back to Konoha as soon as possible. Technically they were in enemy territory still. There was no telling how many more reinforcements Kabuto may send if they waited too long.

The blond ran over to the knocked out Oto-nin. He bent down, checked his pulse then hurled him over his shoulder. Kakashi grabbed his stuff and took his position at the head of the line. Inoichi got behind him while Naruto, who was in the best condition at the moment, was in the back. They began their trip home.

---

Inoichi's gash was bruising. His skin around the stab wound was purple. He limped on his right leg, slowing down the group's pace tremendously. Yet Naruto never once complained. The Oto-nin woke up once and tried to untangle the ropes on his hands before passing out from fatigue. That seal really helped.

Two days had passed and they were just over three-fourths of the way back to Konoha. Currently, they were staying at a hotel about sixty kilometers from Konoha. Kakashi said that they should arrive by tomorrow afternoon if they kept their current pace.

The town they stayed in was sparsely populated. There was a hotel, a store and a self proclaimed hospital. The population couldn't have been more than five hundred people. Despite the size of their hotel, their rooms were nicely furnished. It wasn't as grand as the hotels in many major cities in the Land of Fire, but it was quaint, comfy. Naruto took it upon himself to look around town while his teammates tried to interrogate the Oto-nin once more. It wasn't really important for him to be there. The man was close to being crippled with that seal and Kakashi was almost at full health. They'd be fine.

He visited the store, and stocked up on some instant ramen. Just outside the store, he sealed the five cups in a scroll and continued making his way through town. Apparently they weren't used to lodging many ninja as there wasn't a weapon shop anywhere. The store didn't even sell kunai…

About a half hour later Naruto decided to head back to his hotel room. Along the way, he heard a scream from Inoichi's room. He banged on the door and asked what was going on. The door's lock clicked and Kakashi pulled it open. On the bed sat the enemy ninja, writhing in pain. Inoichi was trying to cover his mouth to prevent him from screaming, but it didn't work. The man continued bellowing in anguish.

"**Kit that man will die soon."**

'_What do you mean "soon"?'_

"**In the next five minutes. Why are you holding the enemy anyway?"**

'_We need to some information from him, but he's worthless if he dies now…Damn it, all of this will have been for nothing.'_

"**Not quiet. This may hurt you a bit but if you hold your hand against his head, I can try to calm his heartbeat. The worst that'll happen is he dies, and that's going to happen regardless…"**

"Get back!" Naruto moved towards the man whose hands were shaking and chest convulsing.

'_Like this?'_

"**Yes, now focus **_**my**_** chakra, not yours. Just don't overdo it. Push a little bit into him."**

Naruto did as told, forcing some of Kyuubi's chakra into the man's face. Instantly he settled down. Both men looked at Naruto whose eyes had just begun to glaze over. His pupils dilated and his body swayed slightly, but he maintained his balance.

---

"**This is some high level sealing technique here…" **Kyuubi growled. He saw exactly what Naruto saw at the moment.

'_Where are we?' _

"**I'm guessing that my chakra reacted badly to the jutsu this man was under. You must have created a mental link to his mind by accident…"**

'_So this is his mind? Wait…what do you mean "the jutsu this man was under"?'_

"**Come on now. Do you honestly expect a soldier of Orochimaru's to be walking around with classified secrets in enemy territory without there being some type of insurance policy that those secrets die with him? Obviously Orochimaru manipulated his brain with some ninjutsu so that his brain would start dying if captured or something."**

'_Can it affect me in anyway?'_

"**I think this is as far as it goes for you. Lucky for you your friend back there didn't try anything; he might have died in the process."**

Naruto began walking around the Oto-nin's mind. It seemed so…empty. The justu must have been activated a while ago.

He thought of something. _'Hey, can I check his memories or something?'_

"**I think you can try…just don't do anything stupid. I think that if he dies, we both go with him."**

'_What the hell?'_

"**You really are stupid. The mental bond you must have created is linking your mind with his. You are currently inside his mind. If it were to say, stop working, then so would yours. Don't worry. My idea worked, his body's stabilized at the moment. Just don't mess with anything."**

'_Okay then…'_

Naruto walked down a path, the thoughts were organized to some extent. He focused on an image of Orochimaru and then his head was filled with all the information that the Oto-nin knew of his commander. It turns out Orochimaru was smarter than Naruto thought, way smarter. The man hardly knew anything at all. Only that he was very powerful and not someone you wanted to piss off…

Next the blond tried picturing Kabuto. That brought up some better results. The man was sent to his base as a normal jounin at first, two weeks prior the attack on Kakeru but then took command the day before the team from Konoha arrived. So this had all been planned. But why?

Not knowing many high ranking ninja in Orochimaru's army, Naruto's list of names to check grew shorter and shorter. Then finally he thought of Sasuke. The face was pictured then his mind was flooded with tons of information. _Uchiha Sasuke had actually been the one to set up the base…he was there not five weeks ago but left. The base's main objective was…the central power for the second assault on Konoha._ Everything went fuzzy from there. The only other bit of info that Naruto could squeeze out of him was that there were four new bases being formed within the Land of Fire…and another three in the Land of Wind.

If Naruto had an actual body, he would have needed to sit down. That was what the base was for?! To destroy Konoha!

'_We have to tell Obaa-chan soon. She needs to know about all this. Had it not been for her friend's complaint, we would have war breaking out in the streets in a matter of months. We have to do something!'_

"**Kit, settle down. I already warned you about this. We have plenty of time to act."**

'_What the hell do you mean? That prediction? _That _was the warning? _That _was what was supposed to keep Konoha safe?'_

"**Yes."**

Naruto was prepared to lose it on the fox. He hadn't said shit about the destruction of the Leaf except that Akatsuki was the biggest threat. He was forcibly pulled from the Oto-nin's mind, his body and mind merging after being separated for what seemed like a few minutes. Naruto felt light headed, what the hell just happened?

Inoichi bent down and checked the boy's pupils, then his pulse. He was satisfied and backed away. Naruto jumped up and looked at the man spread eagle on the bed. His chest was no longer heaving. He was dead.

Kakashi broke the silence. "Naruto, what did you do?"

"What do you mean?"

The ex-ANBU's one exposed eye focused on Naruto. "You ran over to him shouting for us to move then you placed your hand on his face. Your fingers glowed red for a few seconds then it looked you passed out. All the while, the guy stopped moving. We didn't know what was happening so we just waited. A few minutes later, your face scrunched into a scowl then your lips were moving, but there was no sound coming out. So I moved your hand and you woke up. Now what did you do?"

Naruto looked down at the dead man next to him then to his sensei, "I…uh…broke into his mind."

"How?" Inoichi was very interested now. This boy just kept getting more intriguing by the moment. Now he was claiming to read minds.

"I just put chakra into his brain. Then I was inside it."

"Right, now why did you do this?" Kakashi was getting a little annoyed at how evasive the answers were getting.

"Umm…" Naruto looked Inoichi dead in the eye, then back at Kakashi. "_He_ told me to."

"Oh…" the silence that followed was incredibly awkward.

Then Naruto remembered what he saw. "We need to leave as soon as possible. I saw some very important information in there that Obaa-chan needs to know."

Deciding that this information was very…delicate, Kakashi dropped the conversation. "We'll leave before dawn then."

Both Kakashi and Naruto left the room. Inoichi wanted to hear more…then he realized what was on his bed. "Damn it guys. What am I supposed to do with this corpse?"


	8. The Training Begins

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: A new chapter. I hope everyone has been enjoying my frequent updates. I can't promise that new chapters will always be up this fast, but I've put a lot of time into this fic recently. Read, review, enjoy.

**The Training Begins**

The team arrived back at Konoha a little after 10:00am. Naruto insisted on helping Inoichi get back since his body was in no shape to maintain the pace Naruto had set. So a squadron of clones was used to carry the injured man the rest of the way. Kakashi himself had trouble more than once keeping up with the adamant genin.

As soon as they were cleared at the southern gates, the team headed straight towards the Hokage's office. Inoichi gave his report along with Kakashi and then was escorted to the hospital for better treatment. Both Kakashi and Naruto told Tsunade of the 'interrogation' and then waited as she took in the newly discovered data.

"So it was _his _chakra that allowed you to enter his mind? That must have been some dangerous kinjutsu…at least you're safe, Naruto." The elder blond was looking at Naruto now. "Is there anything else I need to know about all of this? I want the ANBU scout teams I send to be as prepared as possible. You three were lucky to escape with your lives."

"As far as I know, yeah, that's it. But there are other matters I need to tell you about…" Naruto glanced at Kakashi, then at Tsunade. "Several days ago…the Kyuubi told me something. He said that there was a prophecy or something that I had to fulfill. I'm not entirely sure what all it means, but he said I need to train, with him. I'm still not sure if I'm up to it yet…"

"How long do you have to decide?" Kakashi pondered aloud.

"I don't know, I just need to be ready as soon as possible, in less than a year."

"This can be troublesome. So far Naruto, you're one of four shinobi in this village who has any real experience dealing with Orochimaru, including myself. How long will this 'training' take?"

"I don't know."

"What _do_ you know?"

"That this is very important for me to complete. I need to do this, Obaa-chan. But not just for me, for the good of the village as well." Naruto said this solemnly, not portraying much real emotion.

"What do you think, Kakashi?"

"I don't think I can help… I'm not sure what the Kyuubi has in store. The only person who has really helped Naruto with the Kyuubi is Jiraiya-sama."

"Will you be okay doing this on your own then, Naruto? I can't spare much extra support right now if what you saw is true. We've been lucky these past few years to not have another enemy attack since the chuunin exams. Our forces are still low from that. Our main ally, Suna, has helped greatly after that incident in rebuilding, especially with Gaara as the Kazekage. I'm sorry Naruto, but you'll need to stay in Konoha for this. I can't allow you to go out on a training mission. If Jiraiya was here, it'd be different. He's out now on a mission for me."

Naruto was about to say something in protest, but he knew it was futile. This was life. He had to make deal with the conditions and focus on getting stronger. "Fine. I just need somewhere secluded for a while. No one can bother me there. I can't have any interruptions at all. Is that okay?"

"I know just the place. About twelve kilometers east of the Hokage monument is a cave inside of a small mountain. Only a select few of this place. I can guarantee that no one will hinder your training there. It's the best I can offer you."

Kakashi's mouth hung open a little behind his mask.

"Thanks Obaa-chan. I'll see you when I see you." Naruto ran to the window and jumped out. If you squinted hard enough, you could see an orange blur moving incredibly fast.

"Hokage-sama, that's…that's Minato-sensei's training spot."

"I know. I think it will help Naruto to train where his father did…even if he doesn't know it."

---

Naruto nearly kicked in his door to his apartment in excitement. He found it: a secluded place for him to get stronger. No one could mess with him there, it'd be perfect. And it was far enough outside of the main parts of town so that no one would be in any danger. Perfect.

Naruto pulled out a long scroll and sealed some food inside. It would be too much of a hassle to come into town each day; he'd probably get distracted with something. Yeah, this was a much better method. Next Naruto packed some scrolls, several of his trademark orange uniform, and a box of soldier pills. He set off for his new designated training ground. It'd be home for the next several months.

The blond arrived and looked up at the mountain face, admiring how the afternoon sun cast a warm light on it. He walked into the cave's mouth. Inside was deep and dark. Naruto paused and allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim light. The air was humid, stale, and heavy. The cave seemed to stretch back into the mountain. It must have gone at least half way into the structure.

"**Hm…interesting…"**

'_What?'_

"**Place your hand on the stone walls." **

Naruto did as told, putting his fingers on the cool rock. His fingers tingled as blue chakra seeped into the cave wall.

'_What the hell?'_

"**This is indeed a fine place to train. The rock is special, kit. It absorbs chakra and forces your body to adjust to it. Simply sitting in here long enough will expand your chakra capacity."**

'_Really? That means it'll really help that I'll be living and training here for a while then…'_

"**Anyway, do you remember what I said: how you must merge our energies into your body?"**

'_Most of it, yeah.'_

"**You have below average chakra control. You need to work on that first. Summon all the chakra you can at once and put it in the atmosphere. I have a theory I want to test out…"**

Naruto sat cross-legged on the ground. He formed the ram seal and focused his chakra on a certain point in his body.

"**Not like that you idiot. Force it from your body. Don't keep it bottled up."**

'_This is how I was taught to do it, though.'_

"**I'm teaching you now. Do as I say."**

Naruto closed his eyes, letting his chakra flow freely from his body.

'_What is this supposed to do?'_

"**You need to run out of chakra, but instead of dividing it equally into your kage bunshins like normal, you must release it. Picture your chakra and let it go. Don't worry about someone sensing it; this cave seems to keep your energy level subdued so that someone would have to be right next to you before feeling anything. Release as much as you can at once."**

Naruto kept his eyelids shut, focusing solely on letting the chakra go. The practice had been going on for over eight hours by now. Unlike his normal exercises that let him mold the chakra for future use, this one drained it all away. The air grew heavier. His breath seemed to be slightly more labored.

"**That's it kit. Now try to stand up."**

Naruto did as instructed. His balance was off, his body surprisingly heavy. Then he collapsed. The high concentration of chakra in the air forced him back to the ground. It was if breathing smoke into his lungs.

"**When you first put chakra into the wall, the cave absorbed it immediately. Of course that was the natural absorption rate. You seem to be able to push out more than it can take at once. I think that by breathing this chakra enriched air, your body might grow stronger in the process. Now continue. I'll warn you when you are close to chakra exhaustion."**

That didn't happen for another twenty hours. The boy's stamina on its own was impressive, without the Kyuubi's help. Even the fox was impressed at this. He always thought that Naruto was extraordinarily weak without him.

**---**

"**Your chakra stamina has already improved." **Kyuubi said as Naruto finished day five of training. They still only worked on chakra exercises. It grew tiresome after a while for the restless genin.

'_When can I start really training? I've been doing this long enough!'_

"**Your body is still too weak. And we still have of time for the basics. Do not underestimate me kit. I choose when you advance to more powerful techniques. Finish this exercise and I'll consider letting you do something else. But it must be done perfectly."**

Naruto groaned and set back to molding chakra. This time, he was to focus it inside his body and force it outwards. The blond had moved further into the cave for this type of training. He found out that the further he moved into the mountain, the more rapidly his chakra was absorbed. It seemed to speed up the repetitive task.

Kyuubi sat silently inside his cage. Their time was short, but hopefully it would be enough for him to adapt to the demon's chakra. Otherwise his organs would deteriorate and possibly fail. If that happened, the boy's chance of survival, even with the Kyuubi's healing power, would drop drastically.

"**Kit, stop." **The demon said after another two days of mindless chakra molding.

'_Huh, I thought I was doing it perfectly.'_

"**You were. Your can now channel chakra anywhere in your body and even outside it second nature. Now you must attempt it with mine. Mind you, my chakra is much stronger. You cannot delude it with yours to ease it through your chakra coils like normal. I think your insides have been exposed to it enough over the years to not become permanently damaged though. If not, you must cease using my chakra for a while. Are you ready for it?"**

'_I know my body's limits. Let's begin!'_

The blond emptied himself of any remaining chakra that was currently flowing through his coils. Now it was time for the big stuff. They had wasted too much time to get his body up to par with normal chakra.

The demonic chakra surged throughout Naruto's body. He felt it empower his muscles and pump into his coils. It had been almost a half a month sense he had felt that sensation.

"**Now release it kit, just like before."**

The mouth of the cave glowed an ominous orange for a few seconds before the walls could take in the chakra. Naruto kept channeling more red and orange chakra through his coils. The first hour made his skin tingle a little. The second made him notice an acute pain growing in his muscles. The third made him realize how tired he was. By the end of four hours straight of moving pure demon chakra through his body, Naruto was beginning to feel dizzy. The air had stayed heavy. His chest hurt as he took in another breath.

'_This is starting to hurt. Isn't that a bad sign?'_

"**Don't worry. My chakra is just too overpowering for you. Eventually it won't do anything at all to you."**

Naruto kept a steady pace moving. After six hours of standing near the cave wall with evil chakra circulating throughout his body, he lost feeling in his hands.

"**Slow down kit. You're done for now."**

The once powerful torrent of chakra dwindled down to hardly anything as Naruto stopped forcing the demonic energy from his tenant. His hands were starting to blister from where most of the chakra had exited his body. They sizzled as the healing process began. All his muscles were sore. That was more strenuous than sparring with Fuzzy Brows. Naruto leaned against the wall, relieved that he was making some progress with his new training, even if it did hurt like hell.

"**That was a good start. I honestly didn't think that you'd make it past a few hours."**

'_How much longer until I have to merge our chakras?'_

"**You've only been at it for a week and a half…I'd say another three weeks, assuming you keep this pace."**

'_Damn it. You said that this was important and yet you're taking your sweet time to do anything. Ero-sennin threw me off a cliff when I was training with him. It was drastic but it worked. I learned how to summon. What's so different about this? I'm basically just using your chakra again.'_

"**That was far less complex. You only held onto my chakra for a brief moment then used it to drag that toad to this dimension. Now you have to maintain a steady balance of my chakra so that you will become accustomed to having it in your body. If your chakra coils reject our combined chakra, you can't simply recall it. It will always be there. You need to remember that."**

It was annoying to be this patient with Naruto. The Kyuubi felt some level of respect towards him but having to walk him step by step in this training was getting to him. Normally he would have just stopped watching his life and cut off any mental link that they had for a while. But this was important and he couldn't rely on such luxuries now…

'_How long do I have to wait before I can continue? Can I do anything else in the meantime? Just improving my chakra control gets _very_ boring…'_

"**Work on your taijutsu if you can. Your form is sloppy. Make it more versatile. You can only fight close range. Hell, even your ninjutsu rely on point blank range."**

"Here goes." Naruto crossed his fingers, molding his normal chakra in his body to create a sparring partner. Waves of cool energy flew through him as his chakra cleansed his slightly damaged coils.

The clone stood next to Naruto and then attacked. It was better than putting deadly chakra into the air at least…

---

Tsunade had begun to miss the blond brat. He wasn't there to lift her spirits when Shizune had her doing tons of paperwork. She had kept her promise and not told anyone where he was. Even Kakashi was sworn to secrecy, which really got to Sakura. She hated being left out of the loop. All she had left to do was work in the hospital now that her team only had two members.

Life was so…uneventful without Naruto around.

---

Kyuubi had been studying Naruto's training every day, even though his sense of time was thrown off from the darkened cave. There was no real way to tell if it night or day now that Naruto had moved so far into the cave. At least he was becoming more experienced with controlling his chakra. The blond even created weights from the stone for his clothing and limbs that he now kept on at all times. This was making his time spent doing exercises more efficient. The more chakra he unconsciously put into the weights, the more they seemed to take the next day. They even felt like they grew heavier as time passed.

"**Kit, you are advancing well. I think you may be ready for it."**

'_Huh? It's been three weeks already?'_

"**I don't know. But your body maintains a steady flow of my chakra now without having many aftereffects. I don't think we have much more time to spare with practice. It's time to move up."**

'_Okay. When do we start?'_

"**As soon as you get up tomorrow. For now I want you to empty your body of almost all of your chakra. Stop when I say so."**

For the last time, Naruto channeled his chakra from his body into the cave. It didn't take as long as when he first started this method, having used it daily for a little under a month, he could now exert more chakra from any part of his body. The blond rested his head on the wall. He knew it was dangerous to do this, but it was necessary. He could barely fight with Kabuto when he wasn't being serious. He was no match for the Akatsuki if this training failed. If he died, all would be lost.

As Naruto went to sleep, he prayed, for the first time in years, that he was able to help his friends. Up until then, he saw no use for religion seeing as in how his life had been so far. But now, he was truly scared for how it might turn out.

When the blond woke up, he felt tired, as if he didn't even sleep at all. It might have been stress, fear, anticipation, adrenaline, anything. But now he had to face his problem, literally.

Naruto sat up, neglecting to use the various scrolls around his sleeping area. He didn't feel hungry. The meager amount of sleep he received would be enough energy; at least he hoped it would be. He cleaned up his cave and sat down near the front. He hadn't ventured to the very back yet. Every time he tried, he would have to turn back. The pressure from the walls was too much for him. Each day he got closer though.

The young genin sat down, closed his eyes, and visited his prisoner. The Kyuubi glared at the boy like usual, a condescending look in his eye. There was no need for words yet. They both knew what was going to happen, to some extent. It was always hard to imagine death, especially for someone as optimistic as Naruto. Kyuubi however just hoped the idiot was strong enough not to die. A being like him detested death, since in his own realm, he was practically immortal. But now he depended on Naruto, just as Naruto depended on him. He hated having to rely on another life form…it seemed so weak.

Naruto gazed at the Kyuubi before asking, "What do I do now?"

"**Grab the seal. Pull it off. If you cannot take my power, only a portion of it, your body will perish. When that happens, I will either join you in the afterlife or return to my world."**

There was no waiting for confirmation. There was not another exchange of words. Naruto reached for the seal on the gates of the cell and ripped it off. He had to trust the fox now. He just wasn't sure how reliable the Kyuubi no Kitsune was…

A/N: And yes the chapters have been getting longer. They used to be just over 2000 words but now I've moved it up to over 3000, in case you were wondering. I'll try to keep it up for now, along with more updates. Review if you liked it.


	9. The Transition

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Even though I've been updating at least once every twenty-four hours, you guys keep asking for another chapter. I don't mind though, that just means that the last one was good enough to keep you anticipating something new. Read, review, enjoy.

'XXXXX' – Naruto's mind

**The Transition**

The moment the seal was removed, the Kyuubi rushed forward, as if trying to get past his jailor. For a brief moment, Naruto panicked. He thought that the kitsune had betrayed him, although it shouldn't have been a shock if he had. The demon had made numerous death threats in the past…

But the Kyuubi knew what he had to do. He strode directly into Naruto, not slowing for a second. The moment that their spiritual bodies touched, an explosion occurred. Not just in Naruto's mind, but outside as well. The shockwaves shook the mountain. People in the distance felt the tremor strike through the earth, wondering what just happened. In her office, Tsunade looked up from her nap, shaken by the mild earthquake. Something deep down told her Naruto was behind it. That was their chakras combining. Unlike in the past, when it was only temporary, this new power would last a lifetime.

As soon as the initial shock wore off, Naruto started convulsing uncontrollably. His eyes were opened wide staring at the cave's ceiling. The demon's energy synthesized a spark throughout Naruto's body. He felt it roll over his limbs, out from his stomach. It crossed over his heart, around his lungs, starving him of oxygen, even though he was breathing somehow. He still shook. The pain was unimaginable. Not even the dream of the Akatsuki could amount to this. It was nothing more than an annoying gnat when compared to this new pain. It was torturing his insides.

Blood dripped from his eye sockets and nose. He coughed as he kneeled over. More of the crimson liquid splattered on the white stone as he struggled to stay alive. His innards felt as if they were melting away. Naruto fell to the ground, collapsing in a heap while the evil chakra ate away at his own. Then something new started moving in his body. Something familiar yet terrifying.

If the boy thought the atmosphere was heavy during his training, it was nothing compared to what it was now. The energy smashed small pebbles and stones into the ground around him, creating miniscule craters. Now a dome was being created. It was smaller than the one caused when he used the fourth tail, but lethal nonetheless. Anything near him was disintegrated into ash, leaving a circle around as the wind was dragged into the small vortex of terror. Leaves, branches, stones all of it was destroyed instantly when confronted by the chakra. His body was still being attacked by the Kyuubi's powerful energy and the pain just refused to subside. His muscles were torn and repaired, then torn again, only to repeat the cycle.

Naruto flailed on the cold ground, blood still coming up when he took a breath. He lost what little was on his stomach in the process. All of his energy was drained as his body still sent small ripples in the rock. The cave couldn't take in much of the chakra, forcing Naruto to feel it put more pressure on his skin. Maybe it would have been better to have stayed deeper inside… At least then the air didn't have to be so concentrated.

For over twenty minutes, Naruto was unsure if he was alive or not. Everything was so…white. So pure. So innocent. It was surreal. He tried desperately to stand. To move around or even flip over, but it really was useless. His body wanted to give up so much. But his willpower, his spirit refused to surrender into the darkness that threatened to cloud his vision. Chakra was purged from his near lifeless form as it tried to heal every part of his damaged body. Almost everything was aching. He still couldn't open his eyes…

The Kyuubi faced only darkness. He knew something like this would happen. It was so cold and desolate, but for a demon, it seemed comforting. Unlike Naruto who wanted the best for others, the kitsune couldn't care less. Had the fox not been foretold that he too would have perished, he wouldn't have even brought up the prophecy to the child. Yet he somehow began to feel this _need_ to help him build up over time. He knew that his life was unimportant to fate, if there was such a force. Kami would punish him as he or she saw fit but the demon didn't care. He was immortal, until that night when a man locked him away into a mortal being. Such a pathetic life form could only do so much, but this punishment was worse than the fear of somehow being punished by some imaginary person. He could _die. _Fear of death was always a good punishment.

In both of their paths of vision, they could make the other out. Naruto saw the mammoth form of the Kyuubi, his tails waving malevolently in the gray sky. The Kyuubi saw a rodent, a piece of scum that should be eliminated from the face of the earth. But it never moved, it never died, it never left him alone. Anger grew in the beast. The fact that a lowly human could toy with him like this was pushing his patience to no end. They saw each other across the deserted field perfectly. Then suddenly both beings converged. Another chaotic burst of energy erupted from the body of Naruto in the real world. This one, although not as large, was still powerful. Where the first one sent red and blue chakra into the air, this one released white and black.

After that moment, everything settled down. All was calm and tranquil for the first time in almost a month inside the boy's mind. Too bad he wasn't conscious to comprehend this.

The strain on his muscles, being mutilated and recreated several times over hit Naruto full force. At least he retained one of the Kyuubi's more useful traits. But now, his head was searing with pain. The vicious chakra had made cuts over his flesh, each stinging as the protective bubble of red energy fell, allowing the wind to move over it. Slowly, the cave was taking in the chakra. It didn't matter, Naruto had lost all sense of feeling and where he was long ago. The only one of his senses that seemed to be working normally was his sense of pain.

All of the noise vanished. Naruto sat on a white floor. There was nothing near him. He was alone. For the first time in over fifteen years, he was alone. Then a dark spot form on his unblemished floor. It was repulsive to him. Something that shouldn't be allowed to defile his perfectly clean place of solitude, but it did. The room divided into light and dark, white and black. Naruto still sat in the center, watching at the colors began to sway, dancing around him. Both stopped simultaneously, creating a balanced circle.

On one side, there was the dot that appeared just before the sudden divide, and on the exact opposite sat a white twin. _Yin and Yang._

Before when Naruto's mind had been a sewer of doubt and fear, now there lay a balanced circle of unity. Each side gave and took, completing the heavenly system.

In the real world laid the body of Uzumaki Naruto, a boy who had just merged his body and mind with that of a demon to help protect the people he loved. The boy, not even an adult, clung to life as his body fought to accept the new breed of chakra that pumped throughout it. On both shoulders, half of a Taoist symbol was inscribed upon the skin. Each side held limitless power and unknown weaknesses. Across his stomach, the orb of unity was complete.

---

Naruto woke up several days later. All of his body felt like it had been burned then frozen. The pain lingered but it was far less intense. He moved one finger; energy pulsed up and down his arm. It was different. Not exactly comforting but at the same time it wasn't agonizing. He pulled his body out of the cave. Each movement left him nearly exhausted but he carried on.

The moon hung overhead, illuminating the area. The dirt had strange waves in it leading from the cave. Naruto kept moving, ignoring the oddity until he was under a tree. Here he could breathe easily. The mineral inside the cave had done a number on him, it must have overloaded on his chakra by now. He propped himself up, looking into the dark entrance.

"How long have I been out of it…?" he asked out loud. He half-expected a reply from the Kyuubi but wasn't sure if he was still able to communicate with him. The weakened blond looked at his body. All of his clothes were tattered, missing entire sections in some areas. He felt different. Something new was inside him, and although his natural curiosity urged him to find out what, he wanted nothing more than to sleep. So he did.

XXXXX

_The Kyuubi was surrounded by darkness again, this time it wasn't as homey. The seal had been removed, that much was a given, but now what was containing him inside the brat? It wasn't any type of normal sealing method from what he could tell. Naruto was still too inadequate in that field of ninjutsu to pull off something of this magnitude. The most the idiot could accomplish was summoning and storing. Then what was it? _

_The ferocious beast looked up into the somber sky. Gray clouds overcast the area, creating a perpetual nighttime. It felt as if the clouds were part of this place. As if they were part of the ceiling or the floor. Everything unified seamlessly into wherever the demon was. All of it was connected, including him._

_He called out, only to find that he was silenced. No sound was given off. _

'_**Where am I?' **__The Kyuubi asked himself internally. It was obvious that this was Naruto's mind, but it wasn't the same as last time. He couldn't impose his will on his host with his fearsome chakra. He wasn't even certain if the dunce could hear what he said, if he could manage to speak something aloud._

XXXXX

Naruto felt sunlight bathe him in warmth. He opened to eyes to see a partially lit up mountain side. He didn't think to bring a watch and his ability to judge accurate time based on the sun's position in the sky was lacking. It didn't matter, anyway. He felt great. At least great compared to what he felt before. The throbbing had stopped and his muscles no longer burned or ached in pain. The scrapes along his arms and legs were healed.

Then he fully remembered what he did. It all came rushing back to him. _'I merged with the Kyuubi.' _ From what he could tell, everything seemed to be the same as before. He examined every bit of his body, looking for any new…modifications. Then he felt it. His left index finger grazed over his right shoulder. A twisted semi circle was defined on the tanned appendage. He reached over with the opposite hand and felt the same, just reverse.

'_Something's not right here…' _Naruto wondered to himself. It was definitely odd to have a prominent marking like this. It could be a seal or something that hindered his chakra. It reminded him of the cursed mark that Sasuke bore after Orochimaru's attack. He just hoped it didn't have similar powers…

The blond ran towards the south. For some reason he could hear water nearby. All of his senses must have been enhanced by the Kyuubi. He could hear the small stream trickle a meager amount of water down the hillside. In the clear water, Naruto got a better look at his 'tattoo.' On each side there was half of a Taoist circle. On his left, white, the right, black. Both sides curved up along his skin. The small shape was no longer than his thumb but it still confused Naruto as what it represented. The symbol was so entrancing. They way both flowed smoothly to coincide together, even if they were separated on either side of him.

Naruto looked into the clear sky. He could sense something amazing about his power. He hadn't even gotten the chance to test it out, which really irked him. Damn distracting tattoo…

He charged his legs with chakra and gave it a little test drive. The results were astonishing. His speed had improved greatly, although that could have been from his training place. Still, he made it back to the mouth of the tunnel with a frenzy of leaves and dirt flying behind him. He'd probably better not do that in close areas again.

'_Time to get back to work, I guess.'_

He entered the cave, his eyes instantly adjusted to the light. That was new. He went to where he had set camp, wondering what he should do. There was no telling how long he had been out of contact with the village, he thought of maybe checking up on them. In the end though, it was a stupid idea. He had very little time to waste.

'_Maybe I should try some of my old techniques…the last time I used a Rasengan this far into the cave, it dissipated too quickly to really test it out.'_

He pulled up a summoning scroll and imbedded a weak amount of chakra into it. A new uniform popped out. He changed, throwing his old clothes to the side for now. He heard a sizzling sound coming from his arms. Looking down, he found the source of it, his markings. Each side glowed with its respective color and cleared the cloth out of the way in the shape of a small circle, despite there not being the other half to completely fill the empty hole.

'_That was weird…' _Now that he thought about it, there was no cloth covering the shapes when he first woke up. Maybe it would be best to leave it alone for now.

He turned his attention back to his task at hand, creating a new Rasengan. He moved the chakra through his coils and made it spiral in his palm. All of the Kyuubi's chakra control exercises made it perfect without a clone now. Possibly the Oodama Rasengan too. _'I'll have to try that soon…'_

Naruto noticed something weird. Since he was only making it in his right hand without the assistance of his left, the sphere grew darker as more chakra was being added into it. He completed the technique, marveling at the little potential hell storm in his hand. It was intimidating even for him to witness, and he'd mastered the jutsu years ago. _'But that was with my old chakra…'_

The chakra held strong, refusing to die out under the demands of the cave. Even when Naruto quit pushing the chakra into the ball, the Rasengan maintained its form and power. It was a self sustaining weapon of destruction now, unlike its predecessor which gave out after a few seconds of chakra starvation. _'This will be useful. Very useful.'_

'_I wonder if the other hand does the same…' _Naruto forced the technique to stop, now focusing on the center of his left palm. He imagined another sphere as his body sent chakra to create a new devastating ball of death. This one started off small but soon flourished as more energy was pumped into it. Unlike the other one, this Rasengan grew lighter in color, giving off a much more benevolent aura about it. It was soothing, and much nicer to maintain. The last one seemed like it wanted to devour more chakra to make it stronger while the present seemed content with what it had.

'_What'll happen if I use _both_ hands to shape the chakra…?' _Of course this new idea needed to be tested, otherwise this 'practice' couldn't be considered done. Instead of placing chakra into the already round ball in his hand, Naruto dismissed the jutsu into the air. Now he placed both hands in front of him, allowing each one to dangle idly until he was ready to begin. Slowly at first, the chakras combined in the space between his fingertips. It shifted in the air and smoothed over. The sphere was growing in size with each passing second. Inside the orb, the light and dark were fighting for dominance. Each had equal ground, but the chakra from either hand was spiraling around unevenly. He focused on the ball and soon it equalized, forming yet another perfect Rasengan. This one was neither light nor dark in color though, but clear. That confused Naruto, since he was knew for a fact that white and black made gray.

An idea struck the genin, why not test the strength of his new creation? He ran outside and looked around, careful to not let the spiraling orb in his hands disappear. This one needed attention; otherwise it threatened to collapse on itself. The other two worked fine when he quit feeding it chakra, but this one desired more to keep its power. He spotted a boulder in his peripheral vision and launched the ball at it, making sure to keep it in both hands.

The winds changed as everything was sucked into the vortex created by the newly improved Rasengan. Anything within a twenty foot radius was blown back, or destroyed, depending on how close it was. The gray cloud sent up was unsettling. It was as if a bomb had just gone off in his hands. "Whoa! That was AWESOME!"

Even though the explosion was remarkable in power, Naruto felt nothing from it except the initial blast. But there were no burn marks, no scrapes from the deadly chakra, nothing. Even a fully charged _normal_ Rasengan would leave some type of mark or something, but this one left him unscathed. Then again, this newest one was a watered down version. But still, the combo Rasengan was truly remarkable.

Naruto pulled himself out of the crater created in the ground. _'Damn that was powerful. Good thing I don't have to worry about getting hit with one of those.' _The blond chuckled softly to himself. Then he fell down into the dirt. This new chakra would take some getting used to…

---

A/N: How do you like Naruto's new power? This is only a taste of it all and there is still much I have to explain. Just know that I'll try to get it all in later chapters. And as usual, if you have any questions, let me know. I'll answer them to the best of my ability…


	10. In the Darkest Corner

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Here is chapter 10. That's the sixth chapter I've put up in less than a week. I only have another week before I have school to take away from my fanfiction time. Anyway, thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. I'm glad you guys like how I'm taking the story so far. I'm grateful to you all and also thrilled to see that so many people like my writing style. And as a special New Year's treat, this chapter is longer than usual. Read, review, enjoy.

'----' – enter/exit a dream sequence

**In the Darkest Corner**

Naruto no longer needed help in controlling this chakra. His body was adapting to it more and more each day, still not at the pace he wanted, but at least he was growing used to it. By now he had moved deeper into the cave. His chakra system could handle the growing strain better. Before, he had to heavily shield his tenketsu from damage because that was where the main points in the chakra system where. Now all he needed to do was cover his body with a thin layer of chakra when venturing further into the suffocating atmosphere so that he could make it further. Surrounding himself in chakra was excellent practice for later in battle as it made him call upon decently sized amounts to enhance his movements and reflexes. He couldn't count how many times that would have been useful in the past when he was sustaining heavy damage in a fight. Although it wasn't as efficient as medical ninjutsu, it was a nice added bonus to be able to charge extra energy into an attack if the situation ever became dire. Judging by Naruto's battle record; that was likely to happen a lot in his future…

That wasn't the only inspiration to become skillful in this technique. Something was calling to him at the back of the cave. It drove him to work on his training so that he could see what it was. Each day his goal was to make it another twenty feet farther into the cave. Every single time he would work harder to accomplish that task. This cave was special in more than one way. Not only had it helped him grow stronger, it seemed to have a sense of familiarity about it. It was odd to think that for a cave that he had spent only two months in, but there just had to be some hidden meaning in Tsuande having sent him here of all places.

Naruto was progressing well. Even without the Kyuubi's guidance, the blond was learning how to control the chakra. The first day was little more than a fluke, it was even expected that something like that happen. Using a foreign substance when one's body had been raised on something normal was bound to have its drawbacks. Naruto was just glad that the problems were making themselves known now and not in the heat of battle.

Something told Naruto that this chakra held untapped potential, just like him. He only needed to activate it to fully receive its rewards. When molding the different chakras together, Naruto managed to enhance his older techniques depending on the balance of the mixture. It turned out that his new _normal_ chakra was a combination of both light and dark. It was always running throughout his body. But that chakra could also be separated because of the seals on his arms. They acted like filters to allow more concentrated energy.

This 'system' was very balanced. Unless he used a specific hand, the chakra was clearer, almost invisible. While average chakra was always invisible to the naked eye unless in large amounts, this hybrid chakra would show different shades of black and white depending on how much power there was being used. It could manipulate itself to match Naruto's emotions. Anger would desire more power and therefore lead to a 'darker' use and source. Happiness relied on a more hopeful attitude, calling upon a 'lighter' chakra. He noticed that when he molded chakra when infuriated from previous failed attempts, the chakra was blacker in color, and when he was happier than usual about succeeding at some new part of his training, the chakra took on a whiter tint. It was this basic understanding of his new ability that would lead to more efficient use in the future.

It had been many weeks since he first discovered the various types of Rasengan. Each new training session proved to be more worthwhile then the last. Every time Naruto would push the limits of his extended chakra capacity and stamina, it seemed to have grown a little bit by the next time.

"Today's the day I'm going to get to the end of this cave!" Naruto said out loud, psyching himself up for the task at hand. He breathed in, and then exhaled slowly, letting the wind whistle quietly as it passed over his lips. Almost two and a half months of training were about to be tested.

Naruto coated his outer body with chakra, protecting himself as the cave began trying to yank the energy from his tenketsu. _'As long as I can keep a steady stream of it going, I should be able to pace myself until I reach the back! This is really hard though…'_

The entrance of the cave couldn't have been more than fifteen feet wide. It was well hidden amongst the mountainside's rocks and bland color. From the opening, it stayed the same until around forty feet inside where it suddenly expanded into a well sized room-like area. That was the widest part of the cave, which was now behind him. It stretched to over forty-five feet in width, averaging a twelve foot gap from the ceiling to the floor. All of the sides were smooth, as if carved out carefully over time. The deeper in the mountain from that point, the narrower the passage got. With the highest concentration of mineral being in the deepest crevices, it made sense that the tons of stone and rock that made up the mountain would add strength to cave's overall absorption rate. The entire cave was shaped like an arrow head, providing space for varied types of training. Whoever built this place sure knew what they were doing.

Naruto slowed down, already winded from the trek. His clear chakra was already disappearing faster, forcing him to mold more to continue shielding himself from harm. The cavern was now dwindling to less than nine feet across. That meant he was close to the end, really close. Naruto thought back to when he nearly choked on the chakra enriched air during the first day of training. Now every time he inhaled back here, it seemed hollow, like there wasn't enough oxygen to support his lungs. But he pressed on, determined to keep his promise to himself.

His old record was passed long ago. For some reason, it was easier to move forward today. The natural light couldn't reach this far back. Not being one to think that far in advance, Naruto never thought to bring a flashlight or lantern. Lucky for him, his constantly energized white chakra made a decent enough substitute. Another good tip to remember for later…

His left hand shined dimly in the darkness. Up ahead, maybe twenty or thirty feet in front of him, there was something on the ground, resting against the back wall. "YOSH! I'm almost there!" Naruto boomed in the enclosed area. His joy was evident as it echoed throughout the well carved cavern.

Naruto saw what the object was: a giant scroll. That was puzzling. "What the…?" he thought out loud as he approached the oversized object. He lifted it over his shoulder. The thing rivaled Jiraiya's summoning contract in weight. He sighed heavily, now fully realizing how tired he was. It was probably best to be moving back in the cave right about now. One thing really struck him as odd though, besides the fact that the scroll had been deserted in the back of an old cave for who knows how long, was that it bore the _exact_ same symbol as the one on his jacket that Sarutobi had given him so many years beforehand….

---

Naruto sat down as soon as he reached the safer part of the cave. He held the scroll tightly in his lap, admiring the size of it. He took a deep breath and then untied the silver ribbon that bound the side around itself. On the other side of the flap was a pair of names.

_Namikaze Minato_

_Uzumaki Kushina_

'_That sounds familiar…' _Naruto thought to himself. He knew that he had heard the name 'Namikaze' before…but where? Oh well, it'd come to him later if it was that important.

He unrolled the large scroll four feet. Inside was a round summoning circle, inscribed with foreign characters. The center of the page was worn out in a spherical pattern, a small spiral leading out from the middle. _'Huh. I wonder…'_

Naruto touched the paper, sliding his digit slowly over where it had obviously been used before. His chakra moved of its own accord from his index finger inside of the paper as it went, causing a streak of light to beam from where he trailed over the scroll. A small cloud of smoke rose from the circle after being fully activated. Naruto jumped back, scared that something bad might've happened. He watched with shock in his eyes as another more delicate looking scroll popped out from the billowing cloud. Then another launched up from it. Soon dozens were flying up from the ground, falling into a disordered pile in front of the severely confused blond.

He nudged himself closer, curious as to what else may jump out from the mysterious scroll. The smaller rolls of paper stopped shooting from the larger, letting the smoke dissipate with the cave's stale air. Naruto looked to his left, then to his right, and then picked up one of the newly summoned scrolls. This one was pink on the edges, crimson in the center. On the top showed the Konoha leaf proudly, just below was the name of Namikaze Minato.

Naruto pulled one hand over, unraveling the piece of paper and carefully scrutinized over it. His eyes darted up and down, glossing over much of the text printed on it. _'This is…a…a guide to A-Class jutsu! Where did this Minato guy get it? He must've been a jounin or something to be able to know this level of jutsu! I wonder if all of them have this sort of stuff in them!'_

Naruto rolled the scroll back up, setting it aside for easier access and picked up another one. This one had lines etched across it cross ways. In the center of the pale blue paper was a miniature whirlpool. Naruto pulled it open carefully, making sure not to damage the tattered edges. Along the top border was a navy blue line of text.

"_May the person who learns from this scroll pay tribute to one of the few remaining taijutsu styles of Shiogakure no Sato by passing it on from this generation to the next."_

"When was there ever a village named after the tide? Damn…I really should have paid more attention to Iruka-sensei's history lectures… Whoa! There's some complex stuff in here! I better keep this one out too! All these manuals are gonna be so cool for me to learn some new jutsu from!" Naruto once again couldn't contain the glee in his voice. Not only had he been able to make it _all_ the way into the cave, but he also managed to find an amazing array of teaching guides. Today was a great day.

----

_Naruto sat in a distorted meadow. All around him, wind blew in circles, creating small whirlwinds. Each picked up dust and debris, throwing in the other direction a moment later. Naruto's blond hair waved angrily in the breeze. He saw as the twisters collided and bounced away from each other only to throw themselves at another. The storm grew in ferocity, kicking up more dust to shield the powerful battle of wind from his vision. The tornadoes were rampaging constantly, threatening to overpower the boy if he tried to ruin their fun. _

_Naruto ran into the disorder, ignoring the mayhem that was being created by a set of spiraling tunnels of death. He stopped in the exact center. His jacket was whipping wildly around him, trying to break free and join the wind. Naruto just looked on, taking in the destructive beauty that was this perfect storm. One whirlwind came closer, eventually encircling the small figure. It imposed its power on Naruto, but no matter how hard it tugged on him, it couldn't lift him. Soon it moved on to continue clashing into the other vortexes. _

_The sky was dark as the clouds were scattered across the heavens. Even when the earth was being destroyed around Naruto, he felt no fear. It seemed so natural for wind to be able to do this. Lightning streaked across the skyline, enlightening the dark scene before being consumed into the hellish wind storm. It couldn't dare raise up against such a force._

_The wind rampaged all around Naruto. The boy could only close his eyes and enjoy the wonderful sensation of being surrounded by a fearless power. Only destruction was being left in its wake but still, it was so nice to experience. All the gusts of wind suddenly changed. They converged on the lone boy, bringing their paths of_ _annihilation together on one point._

_An explosion rocked the once peaceful meadow. Shock waves rang out from the single target as all of the wind settled simultaneously. A circle of clouds was blown back, revealing the sun. It lit up the ground around Naruto, who wasn't even fazed by the attack, as the remaining clouds in the sky began to cry. Rain splattered everywhere on the Earth. The moisture in the air was heavy. It weighed down on Naruto as the small circle of light seemed to protect him from the growing downpour. _

_The area became filled with water instantly, creating a lake in the middle of nowhere. The water level grew taller but the ring of light still kept the flood back. Then the liquid rose up higher, forcing the clouds to cease keeping him dry. All around Naruto there was water as it fell in on him. He was held under by the magnitude of it all but he never once felt scared. Soon enough he bobbed to surface. The sky had reclaimed its darkness, casting a dark shadow on the sea._

_From high up, you could only an orange dot in a mass of blue. Naruto floated indifferently, allowing the body of water to build up in size. The boy surrendered to the harsh water, enjoying the way he swayed with it. His arms rest atop his torso as he drifted across the reflective surface. Naruto only heard the continuous rainfall as it relentlessly fell into the sea._

_From his left, a wave rocked him. It soon towered over the blond as it carried him into its mammoth size. It fell in on itself, creating more waves in its stead. Naruto was forced underwater for the second time. The ocean of water was calm underneath, not displaying the distress that it did above. He stayed motionless as an invisible current dragged him under the water. He didn't need to breathe. For some reason, his body was at peace with the substance as it weighed against him with a tremendous pressure. _

_Once more he rose to the surface, allowing the tides to wash over him as he was dragged off in the overpowering current. The blond could only smile at how wonderful it felt to be under control by this majestic element. He blinked as a single raindrop fell on his face from the placid sky._

----

For the last few days, Naruto had been reading up on the different types of elemental jutsu from the scrolls he had found. His natural affinity was of course wind, but the other one that really caught his attention had been water. Ever since that dream, he seemed entranced with the element. It seemed so similar to his first, but was different in many aspects. The only scroll he had found with much information about this chakra manipulation was a serene yellow with blue markings along it and held the symbol of the whirlpool, just like the one with the taijutsu instruction from the Shiogakure.

Naruto found the water element very interesting. It was weaker than his wind element in the offensive sense, but then again, the wind element was designed for offense. But what really set it apart from his current nature was its defensive properties. The nature was easy to figure out once chakra was accumulated but forming the correct amounts was what the text said was the hardest part. Water was a tricky element to fight with. If it wasn't properly formed or if it was thrown off by incorrect mixtures of energy used to create the chakra, it would fail. By utilizing the environment, this nature could be stronger in battle than his current wind-based chakra. One of the greatest assets of learning the water element was that it covered his wind's fire weakness. That could prove most useful in battle.

He had learned some basic exercises to test the water element. It required being flexible while constantly staying in motion. By standing still, he couldn't keep up with the flow of the water chakra which could really backfire on him. So he moved out from his cave to be able to stretch his legs some while he trained to control water chakra. Most of the water based jutsu he had seen in the past required water first. But the scripture said that with the right concentration, chakra could be made into water to use instead. It was similar to how chakra was used as a life force with the mokuton jutsu. All it needed was the right type of chakra to work.

The next part of his training was taijutsu. Naruto had wanted to try the new fighting style, but it was difficult to understand at first. All of the motions required a wide stance, meaning that the user always had to be on his or her guard. That wasn't one of Naruto's strong points. He'd rather take the hit if it meant he could strike the opponent even harder. The other annoying part of this style was that it was a little predictable. A punch from it could lead in from only another punch, as the stance was too wide to be very effective otherwise. His natural style could attack from anywhere with anything. A kick could start from a head-butt or a dodge, and vice-versa. It was complicated to learn when he still preferred his old technique.

But being the persistent person that he was, Naruto found a way to work around that. All he did was modify the style to his liking, combining the best of his old style with that of the new. That wasn't a simple task though. It took countless hours of working with it to make anything flow the way he wanted it to. Every time he succeeded in meshing the two together in some way, he found a problem with it. The stances were just too damn wide to work with. Naruto had to have dozens of pairs of kage bunshins spar for two weeks straight before he figured out how to fix that. Stay low to the ground.

By changing one's center of gravity, one could become unpredictable and faster. The opponent was already at a disadvantage because of this. It was far easier to protect the torso than the legs, and this new approach gave Naruto amble opportunity to trip someone up. Half of his time was spent practicing taijutsu with his clone army and the other manipulating the water element. Each day was exhausting.

Finally, after a full month of daily practice, the combination taijutsu was complete. It relied on the opponent's momentum and mass as the user, Naruto, attacked from a low standpoint to constantly break their guard. He would consistently whirl around and attack from behind, confusing the enemy. It was a pretty powerful tactic to employ, considering the fact that Naruto had put some serious time and effort into perfecting it.

The other part of his newly inspired training was the chakra formation. Since there was no guidance this time from a master of the element, Naruto went into it with very little knowledge except from the scroll. Even with the guide, he felt blind. After a certain point, it was all about the different types of water jutsu and hand seals.

With a little improvising, Naruto could train his clones with making water slosh around in mid-air. That type of task shouldn't have been too hard when you thought about after all the time he had practiced with it, the only thing was, he had to create the water to manipulate. That was a real bitch to master. None of his attempts worked until he thought to use only his light chakra. The water was created easily from only the pure chakra. Then he tried with his right hand and the water formed. It couldn't work with both chakras combined. Each time he tried, it would cancel itself out.

That little detail was very peculiar, especially when his wind element functioned fine with both chakras. Once discovering that useful bit of information, the training progressed much faster. Then after a while, Naruto didn't have to rely on only white chakra or black chakra. The techniques worked fine with the standard mixture. _'Maybe it was because my control over it was so weak at the time…'_

Every day he worked hard on trying to complete his first jutsu the scroll described. This Kushina person was really skilled in her native element to be able to use almost twenty different high level water jutsu. Naruto didn't even know that there was that many. The day came when Naruto thought that he had mastered one of the few less complicated techniques. He created a clone and started a test match.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu!" Naruto spat out a fountain of water at the kage bunshin, who responded with a wave sent directly at his creator. Both blasts of water hit and fought for dominance, neither giving an inch. Naruto smirked before sending more chakra to his mouth. The added energy exploded in a cloud of mist as the clone was knocked back. Naruto had done it. He could now use two elements.

---

Suiton: Suiryudan – Water Release: Water Dragon Missile

A/N: Anyone wondering how much time has gone by, roughly four and a half months.


	11. Another Place

A/N: I'm going to start naming the Japanese words I use for each chapter at the beginning to make it easier. I think that it'll save you from scrolling to the bottom and looking it up only to then have to find your place again. Oh, and I'm sorry for the delay on getting this chapter up. I had to reformat my hard-drive the other day because of a bad virus. That took up most of my afternoon and by the time I got down reinstalling everything on my computer, I was too annoyed with it to really mess with finishing up the chapter. But almost everything is back to normal so...here's chapter 11. Read, review, enjoy.

**Suijinheki** – Water barrier

**Kirigakure** – Hidden mist

**Meimei** – means divine

**Another Place**

Somewhere along the northern border of the Land of Fire, a man with silver hair sat in an underground floor of a hostile base. Said man shifted his glasses. He looked across the room towards another with a sheathed sword slung over his back. The second man with dark hair was looking over a printout of information near an identical machine, forty yards away. The first man cleared his throat then adjusted the settings of a console with the twist of a few buttons. His purple uniform was slightly crinkled along the midsection, so he adjusted it. In less than the time it took for him to raise his hand to pull the fabric, the other had appeared by his side. The second man's onyx eyes leered at the flickering screen, reading the data that flashed back and forth across the screen.

The man with glasses put his arm down, continuing to work on the device before him. A minute passed before his voice broke the silence. "Orochimaru-sama only asked that you escort me here. I can handle it from here if you would like."

"It's fine," the man with a lavender rope tied to his waist replied with an emotionless tone. It was important that he stay there.

"If you prefer…" Kabuto trailed off, now focusing entirely on his work. On a table in the middle of the bleak room was a man, strapped down so he couldn't move. The silver haired man approached his subject, examining a chart. He placed it on a tray only to pick up a needle filled with a pink liquid. Kabuto tapped the syringe twice, ensuring that there was no air bubble inside before injecting the man in the neck. The liquid drained from the glass container.

On a small screen next to the table, the man's vital signs were displayed. Suddenly they went out of sync, causing a red light to start blinking on the instrument. The man would have screamed had a gag not been placed over his mouth. His fingers cringed as he put pressure against the ropes that held him to the steel table. He opened his eyes to reveal two pale yellow pupils. Both showed pain, begging his tormentor to stop. Kabuto merely picked up another needle; this one filled with a blue liquid, and injected the man in the opposite side of the neck. As quickly as it started, the man stopped resisting the binds and closed his eyes as he entered a coma. His body relaxed as the new medicine flowed through his veins.

"Test subject #1655 seems to be immune to the side effects of the Meimei Seal after a pronged amount of time." Kabuto shifted his weight, expecting a reply from the man behind him. He turned to place the chart away when there was none spoken. He turned to look over this surviving test subject. Kabuto lowered himself to get a better look at the seal developing on his chest. It stretched out from a single dot, where it broke into four parts, each revolving clockwise around the middle. It expanded from the exact center of the man's chest four inches before stopping in an incomplete circle. "According to this now, the seal's fatality rate is fifty percent…"

Along the back wall, ninety-nine other bodies sat, ten rows of ten, the front column had an open space. Each body was strapped down to their respective tables. Kabuto undid the wheel's stoppers and carted the table into the line. Each had two injection spots on their necks, one on either side. A seal was inscribed on their exposed chests.

Both men went down the dreary corridor and climbed the stair case out of the bottom laboratory, passing by the room next to it that held one hundred cadavers. Uchiha Sasuke held a smile on his face, reveling in the fact that he would soon have even more power, no matter the cost.

---

Naruto was sprawled out on his back just outside of the cave's mouth. He had been working on mastering a new water jutsu all morning and was currently taking a rest. Sometimes he wondered what took more out of him: actually learning the jutsu or all the mental stress from that kage bunshins made him deal with after being released.

He sat up, enjoying the breeze as it moved against his uncovered upper body. It cooled him off after spending more than five hours straight trying to master enough water to complete his newest jutsu. Naruto grunted to himself as he stood. There were puddles everywhere. That was as far as he had gotten as of today. It just wasn't fair how much this jutsu needed!

The blonde walked over to a dry spot and made two kage bunshin. Each looked at the original before they put their hands in the center. Together they molded chakra into water. The liquid began pouring from their palms as they focused on increasing it. One got distracted and made a mess of things by spraying the other clone in the face, causing him to freak out. The second clone tripped and fell while the other was too busy trying to regain his composure. Yep…more mental stress….

The original Naruto bent down and popped the clumsier of the two over the head, his anger evident. Then he turned to the one who had disrupted their exercise. Needless to say, he was punished.

Naruto tried again after creating two extra clones, hopefully more competent than the last pair. Their hands glowed as more chakra was pumped from their palms. Water oozed from the center and fell to the ground, adding to the previous attempts sorry excuse for a technique. This continued for twenty minutes before Naruto had to give up in frustration. It was getting annoying having to use only a small number of clones.

Then he thought back to the time when he was training with Kakashi and Yamato. He was allowed to use hundreds of clones, as long as he split a waterfall several times that size. He gathered some chakra and made twenty kage bunshins. Each had a determined look on its face. They formed a circle, hands in the middle. Each one created water from chakra.

It wasn't much, but it was substantial enough for Naruto's next jutsu. He made the kage bunshins stand back as he prepared himself. Making the seals, he shouted "Suiton: Suijinheki no jutsu!" A wall of water rose from the meager amount of water around Naruto. The clones charged forward. Some tried to ram themselves into the blockade; others tried throwing explosive kunai at it. Each one of the clones physical attacks was repelled, no matter where it came from. The kunai evaporated water from the wall, but it was quickly refilled from below. Naruto sat in the middle of the circle, channeling chakra into the water to keep its shape from his mouth. This was his first attempt at a defensive jutsu. Even so, the wall was incredible.

From the outside, you could possibly see the shadow of a person inside the spiraling vortex, but that was it. More clones tried to combine their attacks at the structure. Some shuriken were fired at it, but they were washed into the current that was being maintained. Finally a clone threw another one into the water. It tried to break through headfirst. The result was a cloud of smoke as the replica was forced into being released.

Naruto stopped the jutsu, letting the water drop from around him. He was very much impressed with this new jutsu. Not only had it kept him safe, it also managed to harm someone who was stupid enough to assault it. _'It's definitely a useful technique to keep in mind.'_ Now if only he could get around that whole thing about needing water beforehand…

Naruto walked back in the direction of his cave. It had been around two weeks of learning new water based jutsu. He now knew three jutsus, four if he counted the Kirigakure no jutsu, but that only required him to solidify the moisture in the air to make mist. It was still pretty useful, just not exactly the type of stuff Naruto thought of as a jutsu. Naruto began reading up on his next jutsu attempt. It looked a little complex for him, but it seemed so cool.

"All I need is a good amount of water then I just use chakra to create a whirlpool to suck the enemy in…that's awesome!" Naruto kept reading on about the different uses for the jutsu. This one was created by Kushina herself from what the text said. It was supposed to be a chakra draining attack but at full power, it could subdue an entire army. According to the scroll, she couldn't ever fully use it in battle. The only thing she could do was finalize the technique on a full scale. That really excited Naruto. He wanted to be the one to complete this jutsu.

---

Naruto went into his cave. The ground behind him was riddled with swirling marks, the further away from the cave they were, the deeper they were. A heavy mist hung in the air. He was tired, again. So far that week he had made only a little progress, but at least he was improving on the jutsu. He slumped down next to the fire pit near his camp in the widest part of the cave. The large scroll sat next to him. Around him were the smaller ones with the information.

Naruto opened the large scroll. The only time he had was when he first found it. He got too distracted by the taijutsu style and elemental training to really look at it since then. He untied the lazily wound ribbon and began reading. Further in the coiled up paper was information. Most of it was history of Konoha, a time line told of some of its greatest moments. Naruto got bored pretty fast with that. He knew all about it from the Academy. There was no reason for him to read about it again, especially when he didn't have to.

After unrolling the massive object onto the cave floor about twenty feet though, he found a smaller, more complex looking summoning circle. Unlike the other one that was written in black ink, this one looked to be in gold.

Naruto moved his finger over the letters. He couldn't read them, but was entranced at how it looked. Whatever this thing sealed just had to be important. Naruto tried putting chakra into it like he did the first one. Nothing happened. He moved his finger in a spiral like the first, still nothing. Next he put his palm in the center and pumped chakra from it into the marking. Nothing.

He was about to give up when he remembered when Jiraiya taught him some stuff on seals during their training trip. _Some seals require blood._

Figuring that it could work, even though it was unlikely, Naruto bit his thumb and pressed the bleeding digit over the scroll. A single drop fell in the middle. Nothing happened at first, but then a faint glowing emerged from underneath. The blood was being absorbed into the paper. Each of the characters that made up the summoning circle gleamed yellow, but then died down when two smaller scrolls popped out.

One of them had black characters up and down the sides. Along it was an imprint of a man that stretched out into nine lines, each encircling the figure. The top was locked by some metal contraption. It wouldn't open no matter what Naruto tried. The only thing that ensured him that it could in fact be opened was a small pin-prick sized hole in the top. The other scroll was completely gold. Even the string that held it together was gold thread. It was so nice to look at, like an heirloom or important artifact. There was a series of seals along it as well. It looked way too complicated to mess with. So Naruto didn't even bother. These two wouldn't be opened so easily.

---

Uchiha Itachi looked at Hoshigaki Kisame next to him. The two were traveling through the streets of Sunagakure no Sato. Both men wore dark cloaks while a lidded hat hung over their face to protect them from watchful eyes. The pair of Akatsuki agents walked down a wide street and turned into a sand coated building. Just inside the door was a small lobby that branched off into various rooms. Without speaking a word to the woman who sat behind a display booth, they strode into a room with a deep burgundy colored door. Inside they approached a man who sat at a lone table in the large room. The ceiling hung low, causing the taller of the two men to duck his head to prevent it from hitting his head.

The man wore a mask to keep his identity secret from the public. He sat low, his head resting against his own shoulder as if drugged. In the corner a man wearing a coat with red clouds imprinted on it watched the two men who just entered.

"This is the one you asked for, right?" he called in a calm tone.

"HE WAS ANNOYING TO GET!" he suddenly screamed.

"Shut up, it wasn't too difficult." The man replied to himself.

"This is him."

Itachi sat across from the man at the other end of the broad glass table. He still kept his hat on, concealing his blood red eyes. Kisame stood behind the Konoha missing-nin. He watched the scene unfold before him with interest. It was always fun to see Itachi do this type of thing.

Without any inclination, the raven haired man lifted his straw hat a couple of inches. He moved the strands of light cloth out of the way to reveal his Sharingan. Instantly the man who sat opposite of Itachi tensed up as he was pulled into a genjutsu.

Inside Itachi's genjutsu, the opponent was left immobile, defenseless. Itachi on the other hand had full access to his enemy's conscious mind. That was an asset for someone who needed to gather information. He was never one for questions and answers any way.

Itachi browsed through the man's mind, examining everything he needed before he released the accursed jutsu. He stood up and left the man who was currently trying to gather his bearings. The two agents walked towards the exit of the dimly lit room.

"Thank you, Zetsu." Itachi lead the way for his partner out of the room after that comment.

Outside of the building, Kisame glanced over at his partner. Itachi had an unidentifiable look on his face.

"Something wrong?" Kisame asked, his interest piqued at the expression.

"Yeah…it seems like my little brother is having some fun around here….Care to check it out?"

"Love to."

Both men began walking in the near direction they came from. The next few days were bound to be fun.

---

A/N: I know it's shorter than it has been recently, but I'll make up for it with a faster update either today or tomorrow.


	12. The Fruits of Training

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Sorry if ti seems a bit rushed. I wanted to finish up the training, which I'm guessing is getting to be a little boring to read about. Anyway, here is chapter twelve. I can't promise daily updates any more, but I'll try to keep it weekly. Read, review, enjoy.

**The Fruits of Training**

Naruto hit the ground with a thump. His clones left him in a white cloud, covering the area for a brief moment. "Damn that jutsu is tiring!" He had been trying to create a whirlpool, but he could only muster a third of the strength to keep it at minimal power. Even with the assistance of clones, the attack didn't seem to be capable of hurting a group of people like the scroll said it would.

Naruto had been working for the last three weeks on mastering the attack but he just couldn't get it down right. He picked up the scroll, unraveling it to get a better look at the diagram. In the center of a whirlpool was a single person and all around them was the shape of others being sucked into it. The scale was annoying. According the size of it all, the jutsu covered almost a hundred yards in diameter. How he was ever going to complete the technique was beyond him. That was what was bound to happen when he jumped up to one of the hardest jutsus in the entire catalog of them all.

At least in learning this jutsu, he had accomplished summoning fair amounts of water on his own.

"One more time." Naruto crossed his fingers and created a dozen clones. Each ran around in a circle and created huge amounts of water. In the middle, the real Naruto channeled his chakra through his hands and feet into the growing body of waters. The clones took up a faster pace, this time focusing on moving the water, not adding to it. Naruto sent a spike of chakra out into the water, causing a small wave to appear across the surface. He jumped out of the whirlpool as his kage bunshins were pulled into it. On the outer rim of the circular pond shaped area, Naruto pumped in water to maintain the balance of power to create an ideal current. When he pushed too much, the current got out of hand and forced the whirlpool to fall apart. When he put in too little, the power was far too weak and it would eventually fizzle out. Right now he only needed the correct amount of chakra in it so that it would be useful in battle. So far it took too long to prepare. He wouldn't have that type of time in a real fight.

The clones screamed as they were pulled into the vortex. Every one of them tried to fight against the powerful current, but one would trip and fall into another which end up with all twelve spinning around wildly. Naruto slowed down his chakra output. The middle of the whirlpool was strong, just on a medium scale. As of now, it could only reach out to thirty yards at best before it got too out of hand.

By the end of the demonstration of three weeks of training, all of the clones were falling on top of themselves. One made an attempt to stand upright in the aftermath of it all before falling underwater and creating air bubbles as it puffed out of existence. The others fell to the same faith. That was good, not only did it give Naruto information about the technique from a victim's standpoint, it gave him ideas of how to improve the jutsu. All and all though, it was very exhausting work.

---

Tsunade sat in her office, a bottle of sake in one hand, a round dish in the other. She poured a small amount, small for her anyway, and eyed Jiraiya in front of her. The perverted sannin looked at her and tilted his head back. He brought his dish to his mouth and gulped all of it at once.

"So what do you have on Orochimaru? Your messenger toad you sent earlier this afternoon said that this was important." she sipped her sake impatiently.

The man with white hair held out his dish, expecting a refill. "It is. I've scouted out two of the bases myself. My network has been busy trying to put spies in the others for more intel. Right now I can say that the one furthest to the north has around five hundred ninja of varying ranks. The one northeast of here has two hundred or so, mainly chuunin and jounin rank."

Tsunade nodded her head, taking in the information slowly. "Is that it?"

"Not quiet," Jiraiya replied, "I have something new on Akatsuki as well. They are growing more active. The last I heard, they had some agents in Sunagakure no Sato. I'm not sure why, seeing as in they've extracted Shukaku from Gaara. But that was almost three weeks ago. I think they may be planning something on Konoha if they're visiting our allies."

"What do you think they're up to? They haven't made a move against Konoha since Asuma."

"I don't know, but they are getting closer to needing Naruto for extraction."

"How many Bijuu do they have?"

"Seven." Jiraiya looked at the blonde across from him seriously. "I don't know where their hideout is yet, but I'm getting closer."

"Let me know when you do."

"Now then..." the fifty-three year old man took a sip of his sake before asking, "Where's Naruto? I haven't seen him since I left. It's been several months. I was going to tell him some stuff that I found out and see what he knows after that mission you told me about."

"Naruto...? He's been training. A lot."

"Where's he at? I didn't think he was allowed to leave on a training mission."

"Oh, he didn't leave. In fact, he's only a littlebit of a ways outside of town. You'll never guess where, though."

Jiraiya sat silent for a minute, contemplating her words. There were plenty of training grounds around Konoha. But by the sounds of it, he had been gone for quite some time..."

"Do you wanna know?"

"Might as well."

"Minato's cave."

---

"Damn it!" Naruto hit the ground hard. His clothes were dirty, torn, and soaking wet. He was practicing his taijutsu, ninjutsu and fighting skills with a free for all. One Naruto versus twenty-five. It was difficult to say the least.

Naruto picked himself up just as a blast of water came roaring overhead. He ducked as two kage bunshins teamed up and started relentlessly attacking with a mixture of well placed kicks, perfectly timed punches and impeccable jabs. They were getting annoying. Naruto hurled a clone at the pair that had been trying to strike him down from the air. All three of them fell but didn't disappear. "Suiton: Suijinheki no jutsu!" The various puddles that littered the field were brought together as Naruto stood in the center of a swirling wall of water. Five clones were caught up in the frenzy and puffed away.

The blonde let the wall drop, deciding to not waste too much chakra on defense. Next six clones ran up from both the left and right, three on each side. Naruto crouched lower and began his rapid punches and swipes. Two fell down after being on the wrong end of a sweep kick while the other four managed to dodge easily. As if matters weren't difficult enough, another clone was summoning up a massive amount of water for a new jutsu. Great.

Naruto reconized the position he was standing in and jumped to the side just as the copy-cat screamed out: "Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!"

A behemoth dragon shaped tide of water washed over the forum of clones that had previously been attacking Naruto. The real Naruto countered with his own, more powerful blast of water. The clone that initiated the attack fell back in a plume of smoke while the two behind him that were creating the water for him were pushed back.

A Rasengan was created near Naruto just before it hit him square in the stomach. The blonde genin responded by making a swift punch to the gut of the opposing clone. Then there were fifteen left in the open field. Naruto hopped over the them, surrounding himself with the enemy. Two from either side started off by crouching into an equally low stance. They both were dismissed with a spinning kick to the face. Three more launched a new attack. They came at him, two in the front, one in the back. Naruto threw one of the ones in front to the one in the back and then started exchanging blows with the remaining kage bunshin.

When the clone threw a punch, Naruto returned one of similar power. When Nartuo tried to sweep him off his feet, the clone would jump up and unleashed a hailstorm of shuriken on him, which would make him counter with a barrage of his own. This continued until Naruto boosted his leg muscles with extra chakra and appeared behind the clone, jabbing him in the neck to release him. The original Naruto landed on the ground, the chakra in his legs being absorbed quickly by the weights he had attached to them.

The remaining five formed a semi-circle. The one in the center made a Rasengan while the ones on his left and right began to create handseals. In an instasnt, the entire battlefield was concealed with mist. Naruto closed his eyes as he retreated back twenty feet. Now things would be entertaining.

A collection of four clones rushed out from the center of the cloud cover and lunged at Naruto. Said boy was struck several times as he tried to fend off four attackers simultaneously. A fifth clone came at him, pushing the ball of chakra into the real one's stomach, only for it be replaced by another clone as a Kawamari. The real Naruto stood back and began molding chakra for one last devastating attack. The Oodama Rasengan. All of his previous training let him perfect it without a clone, although he did need two hands in order to keep the black and white chakra balanced.

In an instant, the clones assembled and scattered. Naruto didn't care, they were in range, at least one of them was. That was all that mattered. He disappeared and then shot out of the mist. Both hands plunged the Oodama Rasengan into the back of an unsuspecting kage bunshin. Just before fully releasing the attack into the clone, Naruto gave it a small extra burst of black chakra. The result was amazing.

A shockwave forced the mist away from around them. Within a second, they were covered once more with a cloud of dust. All of the clones in the vicinity were destroyed by the slightly darkened chakra. Naruto grinned at his work. The dust began to settle, leaving one boy in the middle of a crater fifty feet wide in diameter and at least ten deep at the center of impact.

"That was a good morning warm-up." Naruto went to his cave. He stumbled into his area and began cleaning it up, preparing his clothes and scrolls to leave. It was time to go back to Konoha.

---

Naruto walked away from the field he had nearly decimated several times in the last six months. He set his sights towards town. He had all of his clothes packed up, the ones that weren't destroyed from his strenuous training at least. He had his bag over his shoulder and a large scroll strapped to his back. His wrists and ankles had weights that feasted on his abundant chakra supply and each shoulder of his jacket had a hole revealing a half circle on either side. Aside from the red and orange tint in his hair, the more pronounced whisker marks on his face, and his tattoos, it looked like the same Naruto who had entered the cave several months ago.

Naruto ran to the main part of town, breezing by the residential districts he passed. A trail of dirt was kicked up behind him as he sprinted full force towards Konoha. It had been such a long time since he had gone without fresh ramen. All he had to eat was instant ramen, and although it was good, it was no where near as tasty as the real stuff.

Naruto wanted to go to Ichiraku Ramen first, but it was early in the morning, and his favorite ramen stand didn't open until after noon. Oh well, it was probably better that he visit Tsunade anyway. The people in the market district at half past ten only felt a gust of wind or saw an orange blur followed by a cloud of dust as the blonde made his way to the Hokage Tower.

Naruto arrived, slowing down to a complete stop. He went inside the red building, going up the staircase and rapped on Tsuande's door. He heard a grunt something being thrown at the door from the other side. He slowly twisted the knob and peered inside. Slumped over her desk, fast asleep, was the Hokage. Behind the door was a book that was meant for his head.

Naruto crept silently up to the dozing Hokage. He created kage bunshin who went up behind her. Naruto meanwhile was focusing chakra to his back and was sneaking up the wall to the ceiling. Below him, the clone was watching, waiting for the signal. Naruto flicked his wrist once, giving the other Naruto the cue to go ahead.

The clone bent his head low and yelled at the top of his lungs: "OBAA-CHAN! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

The woman jumped up, spinning around and noticed Naruto next to her cackling evilly. She pulled her arm back and punched the boy into the wall. If it had been the real thing, it would have made a human shaped hole in it as it was flung out of the building. Instead, it disappeared in a cloud of smoke, still trying to catch his breath.

The original Naruto dropped from his safe zone, laughing his ass off. "Oh- that... was...so... worth... it!" he managed to get out over the fit of laughter. Tsunade was less than pleased. She went over the boy who was bent double and beat him over the head. She sat back down behind her desk afterwards, glaring at the idiot blonde.

"Good to see you're back, Naruto." Her face cracked and she grinned at the genin who was furiously rubbing his head.

"Hehe...good to see you too."

"How was your training? You've been gone for six months."

"It went fine."

About this time, Tsunade noticed the strikingly familiar scroll behind Naruto's back. "Hey...what's that?" She held up her hand and pointed at the giant thing attached to his back.

Naruto glanced to his left to where she was referring and nodded. "This is a scroll. I found it inside that cave you sent me to. It helped my training a lot. I had some questions about it so I decided to bring it with me."

"Where did you find it?" The older blonde asked curiously.

"In the far back of the cave. It had a bunch of other scrolls sealed in it when I opened it."

"Wait...you mean you found this in the very back of that place? That's nearly impossible for someone with your chakra control. You'd have died."

"After a while, I could get all the way into it. It was difficult, but I managed to get the scroll."

"Okay, so what did you see in the scroll?"

"There was a big summoning circle just inside it, then some writing further in, and then the farthest I got was a gold summoning circle. Do you want to see it?"

Tsunade stood up and began clearing off her desk. Naruto heaved the large scroll up on the now clear surface and untied the rope that held it tight. He held the main portion and placed it on the ground beside the desk. On top was the summoning circle.

"You see, I figured that if I put my chakra into it, it might activate and I could see what was inside." Naruto demonstrated and rubbed his thumb in a circle in the middle. His chakra leaked out from the finger and a cloud formed. Like before, dozens of scrolls shot out of the paper and landed in front of them. Tsunade leaned down and picked up one. She stared intently at the whirlpool on the side. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted as someone opened the door behind her.

"Hey, Shishou, here are those reports you asked for. I-" The pink haired chuunin stopped talking when she set her eyes on Naruto. He looked back, as did Tsunade.

"Ah, Sakura. Good, I need you to get Jiraiya for me. He should be outside one of the bath houses. Tell him it's very important."

"But, Shish-"

"Now, Sakura."

Aforementioned girl walked back out of the door and scrambled down the hallway. It was probably best to get Jiraiya...

Naruto glanced over at the Hokage. "What was that about? I think she only wanted to catch up..."

"She can do it later, right now, the old pervert needs to see this."

Tsunade began collecting the scrolls, lining them up in rows on top of a small table beside her desk. Naruto began pulling back on the scroll, revealing lines and lines of text. After a couple of minutes of organizing the various rolls of paper, Jiraiya came into the room, being led by a slightly annoyed Sakura.

"Here he is, Shishou. Now then, Naruto, where have you be-"

"That'll be all, Sakura, Thank you. Dismissed." Tsunade didn't convey any chance of argument. Her pink haired assistant walked out of the room, closing the door silently behind her.

"Now what is all this? I was getting some very good research done and you send that one after me?"

"Hey Ero-sennin. How's it been?" Naruto popped up from behind the Hokage's desk.

"Hey squirt."

"I'm tall now, stop it." 

"Is _he_ the reason I was dragged back here? It could have waited some..."

"True, but you would have wanted to see this more." Tsunade gestured toward the spread out scroll on her desk.

Jiraiya walked up to it and soaked it all in. It took a moment to register, but it was evident when it did. "Is this...?"

"Yep. It's his."

"Ne, what are you talking about?" Naruto asked confusedly.

"Naruto, let us have a talk. You'll understand it all in a while, trust me."

"What do you mean?"

"Naruto, when you read this scroll, did you recognize the two names in the front?" Jiraiya asked patiently.

Naruto nodded. "I thought that the name 'Uzumaki' was a weird coincidence, but then I remembered how in the Kirigakure, there was a wealthy clan named 'Uzumaki.' You said it had to do with the fall of the Whirlpool Country when we visited there." Naruto was talking to Jiraiya now, "You said that they sought refuge after the country collapsed... Why, am I connected with this Kushina person?"

Jiraiya chuckled slightly to himself. This would be fun.

---

To say Naruto was stunned was an understatement. A huge understatement. He was shocked. Tsunade and Jiraiya had just given him the full story of his parents. How the Uzumaki family came to live in Konoha after the hidden village fell and the family split into two parts. How Kushina grew up to marry Minato and have a son. Him. Naruto let a single tear roll down his face at the realization that he had parents. Both of whom died to protect what they loved.

"Well...at least I have to carry the burden so that no one else does." That was the only thing Naruto said afterward about his fate. He was Jinchuuriki, a human sacrifice. He was to pay for someone else's mistake.

"Naruto, now do you understand why that gold seal worked for you? Any other person's blood wouldn't work. That seal was created with the life force of both of your parents. Only you could have open it."

Naruto reached into his bag, pulling out the scrolls that were sealed within the smaller of the summoning circles. "This is what was inside the gold one. I didn't want to mess with them in case they could have been destroyed. The only other ones I looked at were a taijutsu manual and a jutsu guide..."

"Do you want to try to open the scrolls now? I wonder what Minato left in it..."

"Alright, here goes." The younger blonde gave the perverted sannin the marked covered scroll. He slid a kunai across his finger and drew a drop of blood. He wiped the blood down the side, hoping to release the bind that held the gold tie to the scroll itself. After creating a soft slipping sound, it fell. Naruto pulled the scroll out, examining what was written inside. On the paper were fully detailed instructions for something complex.

The old man looked over his student's shoulder, as did Tsunade. Jiraiya gasped aloud when he saw what the picture was depicting. "So he did finish it..."


	13. The Yondaime's Legacy

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or make any money from writing this.

A/N: Hey everyone. Sorry for such a late update. I've been sick recently and I know that a lot of you are ticked at me for leaving you for so long with a cliffhanger. But, this chapter is the longest yet, so I hope that makes up for it. This one may be kinda boring, and no there is no Ino yet, but it's coming next chapter. There will be no more training or mission chapters for a while. I can tell a lot of are confused as to why I went so long without her taking part in the story, but I didn't want to rush things and at least this way left more room open for the plot to develop. Read, review, enjoy.

Hachibi – Eight Tails

Ten no Juin – Curse Seal of Heaven

Shinigami – Death God

Meimei Juin – Divine Curse Seal

Kodachi – A short sword, common during the Edo era. It is just under two feet in length and used similarly to a wakizashi for samurai. (In that, it is used as a short sword to parry attacks and create and opening while another sword is used to strike the opponent. The main difference between the two is that a kodachi is a set size while a wakizashi is made to match the user's height and compliment his or her fighting style.)

Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou – Konoha's Yellow Flash

**The Yondaime's Legacy**

Itachi walked into a cave's mouth several hundred yards wide. He pulled off his hat and joined the other people gathered around a large flat table. Each of their coats bore red clouds sweeping across the pitch black material although it was difficult to fully make out the pattern in the light, since so much of was flickering with static. Kisame to Itachi's left, lowered his sword, Samehada, to the ground before accompanying his partner to their seats.

"What do you have to tell us, Itachi." A muffled voice asked from the far end of the table. It was hard to identify the person who spoke, the only noticeable feature being his spiraling mask.

"Yes, what information did you receive from the Sunagakure official and your visit to the Land of Wind?" This time a man with orange hair asked, what little light in the room reflected off his piercings that lined his face.

"The man Zetsu captured held many secrets of his village and their ally, Konoha. It seems that Konoha has received word of the planned attack from the Oto-nin I placed in the ranks. He served his purpose in delivering that information to the Leaf."

"That is good and all, but where have you been recently? Your mission is no longer to capture the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. You were reassigned to the Hachibi."

"We are both aware of that. The Hachibi's whereabouts are currently unknown to us. However, there is one man who might be able to tell us where it is."

"Orochimaru..."

"Yes. That is why we went to Sunagakure no Sato in the first place. We were told that Orochimaru has a new base developing four hundred kilometers south of there. It turns out that Kabuto, Orochimaru's most trusted subordinate, was overseeing the completion of the base."

"What business is that of ours!?" This time a young man with blonde hair asked the question. His face bore an annoyed expression at the way Itachi was explaining himself. Why the hell didn't he just come out with it?

"Uchiha Sasuke was there with Kabuto. That means that Orochimaru may be arriving there soon. It has been almost a month since I used my technique on that operative, but I believe that there is some time before Orochimaru moves from his current base."

The man on the far end readjusted his posture before replying. "How long has it been?"

"A little over three years. Our spy inside Orochimaru's ranks has informed us that Kabuto is developing a new seal that is even stronger than the Ten no Juin. I believe Orochimaru is waiting until Sasuke has been affixed with that seal so that he can fully make use of his body after the transfer."

"We cannot lose two of the remaining Sharingan to Orochimaru...

---

"What did he finish!?" Naruto shouted at Jiraiya.

"Naruto, calm down." Tsunade tried to quiet the younger blonde before her.

"No! What is this? Is a technique? A jutsu? What?"

"Naruto, remember when we were training? I taught you a bunch about seals, correct? Well, I also taught Minato some stuff too when I was still his sensei. He took to it readily, soon enough he was on par with me at sealing techniques." Jiraiya stopped talking for a moment to remember teaching a similar blonde. "Anyway, because of the growing threat of the Bijuu, your father devised a jutsu so powerful, it could lock away a demon's soul for all eternity in the belly of a Shinigami. He made a pact with the spirit and basically formed a summoning contract with it. The only thing was, it was incomplete. The Shinigami would only extract the opponent's soul and leave after taking the user's soul as well."

Naruto had a frown on his face. "So this jutsu lets you summon a Shinigami to fight?"

"No, that's not it. It was incomplete because of the demon's true power. The jutsu could only seal one half of a being's chakra and soul at once. That is why your seal is incomplete. It could even break soon. So I developed my own version of that jutsu in case that ever happened. But it looks that it's not necessary now that we have a final copy of the original."

"So...what does this have to do with me?"

"The seals only hold one half of the Kyuubi's chakra. The other half was thought to have been absorbed with it's soul into the Shinigami, but it looks like it's not."

"So...is there another person going through the same thing I am? Why couldn't he have just put all of the chakra in me? And what do you mean 'seals'?"

"The two chakras were too powerful. You would have died if they were combined. In order for the jutsu to have worked effectively, there was a series of seals required to keep the demon inside you. The first was the Shiki Fuujin. It pulled the Kyuubi's soul from it's body into yours. After that was done, Minato used Shishou Fuuin. That kept the demon locked up inside you. And finally, a protective seal, the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki, was placed over it to keep Kyuubi's chakra in check, and to allow it to leak out from the seal to join your chakra. It was very difficult to accomplish, given the amount of time he had."

"I don't really get all that, but you still haven't answered my other question. Is there someone else who is holding the Kyuubi's chakra?"

"Now, I doubt Minato sealed the darker half of the chakra in someone else, it would have been too unstable for them to handle. Hmm..." Jiraiya brought his hand to his head, a puzzled expression scribbled into his features.

"Jiraiya, what does all this mean?" Tsunade asked from behind them. She was growing tired of being left out of the conversation.

After several minutes, Jiraiya's voice finally broke the silence. "I don't know. Naruto, lift your shirt and mold some chakra. I need to see the seal and compare it to the diagram in the scroll."

Naruto stepped back and complied. He lifted his orange jacket and black undershirt up. The he scrunched his face up and made a small amount of chakra. Jiraiya gasped at what he saw. On Naruto's stomach was a perfect circle. One half was pure white with a single black dot in the upper half while next to it was an exact opposite. The sides swirled together on his skin, moving as the chakra coursed through Naruto's body.

"Naruto...what the hell did you do out there?"

---

Sasuke lay on a cold table in the middle of a darkened room. Next to him was Kabuto. Long straps bound his arms and legs to the table as Kabuto hovered overhead. He peered into Sasuke's eyes, checking to make sure that he was okay.

"Are you ready?"

"Do it."

Kabuto raised his hands, placing them both on top of Sasuke's chest. Behind him an assistant drew out a syringe. He tapped it twice to clear out the air bubbles and placed it next to Sasuke's neck. The young boy showed no fear and the needle broke into his skin and emptied itself into his body. Kabuto's hands grew blue. He pumped chakra into the raven haired boy. Sasuke began convulsing wildly. The assistant backed away, fearful for his life. Kabuto held strong, pushing more and more energy into Sasuke.

The Uchiha held his mouth closed, keeping back the urge to scream bloody murder. His eyes dilated, nostrils flared, and face shook, but still he kept breathing. After a full minute, Kabuto nodded his head. The same man as before lifted another syringe. This one filled the same amount as the last. He walked to the other side of the table and waited with the tip a centimeter away from Sasuke's neck. Kabuto nodded once more. His hands pulsed more chakra into Sasuke, ensuring he keep a steady heartbeat.

The needle was pushed in, and like the last one, it too was drained of it's contents. Two seconds passed before Sasuke started howling in pain. His arms strained against the leather straps. His chest glowed a green color as small marks were etched into his flesh just under Kabuto's hands. Kabuto changed his chakra suddenly. This time it was green, matching the hue of the seal. He panted heavily. Sasuke still cried out in agony as the seal was near completion.

The medic nin looked over long enough to see Sasuke's eyes roll into the back of his head. After a moment, the screaming stopped. The young Uchiha had passed out from the pain.

Kabuto moved one hand away from the boy's chest. He saw the same seal as it stretched across his skin, over his chest. The monitor next to him stopped beeping. Kabuto placed his palm directly on the seal and healed it. The energy danced across his chest, casting an eerie green light on the ceiling above them. The assistant had long since left. Now it was only Kabuto and Sasuke.

A single bead of sweat fell from his forehead onto Sasuke. The drop sizzled as it landed, immediately vaporized in the extreme chakra that was being released from the boy. The monitor beeped once more. It picked up pace and settled into a rhythm. Kabuto stepped away and looked on at the Uchiha before him.

He walked back over and undid the straps binding his ankles and forearms. After that, he stepped out of the room and spoke to the closest person near him.

"Inform Orochimaru-sama that Sasuke-sama has survived the Meimei Juin. He should be up in the next couple of hours. After you tell him that, take Sasuke-sama to the recovery room. It's best not to leave him in here too long."

"Yes, Kabuto-sama."

---

"Kyuubi said I had no choice. He said that I needed to do this in order to get stronger. So I uh...merged with him..."

"What the fuck is wrong with you!? You combined spirits with a demon! What on earth would posses you do such a thing!? Answer me brat. NOW!" Tsunade screamed at the boy in front of her. It was a demon...that killed a good portion of Konoha-nins when it attacked almost sixteen years ago. They barely could control it's power then, now it seemed to have grown stronger inside of Naruto. There had to more to it than that simple explanation.

The smaller blonde opened his mouth to say something. Jiraiya cut him off just before he could respond. "Naruto, did it mention something...about a prophecy or something?"

Naruto only nodded dumbly.

"What is this now? Where did you hear about some 'prophecy'?" Tsunade was fuming. This idiot gets up and leaves for six months, acts completely natural, and then drops the bomb that he's got a bijuu's powers. Where was a cup of sake when you needed it?

"When I was younger, I was taken to the Gama realm. There, I was told that there would be a student of mine who would grow up and one day bring harmony to the world, or complete destruction. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it was referring to Naruto..."

"That's sorta what I was told. Before the Kyuubi merged with me, he said that I would face unbelievable power. He said that long ago, in his realm, the Kitsune elders told him of his destiny. He was told that there would be a boy. All of his world would rely on him. And if he failed, then all the other worlds would fall as well. That was why the Kyuubi told me to undo his seal binding him inside of me. I did so, and then our spiritual bodies collided. He said that was the only was I could succeed in my fight against Akatsuki."

"So you undid the seal, huh? I guess that released all of his chakra full force on you. What happened? And what's with the new seal?"

"Well...I remember seeing the fox. Then I remember pain. Lots and lots of pain. Then sometime later I woke up and discovered my hair had changed color some and my body was more...enhanced, I guess you could say. I mean, I had a better control of my senses; like I once heard a stream almost a kilometer away just after waking up. But other than that, I don't think I changed much. Except my stamina seems to have gotten increased, but that might have been from my personal training in the cave."

Tsunade had grown considerably quieter now that she had a dish in front of her and a half full bottle of sake in her hand. "Oh...I thought your hair was from the light...It does look different with a small amount of red here and there..." She stopped talking again to take another sip.

"That's good and all, but what about the seal. It's dangerous if it doesn't hold up. Maybe I should try reinforcing it with one of my own techniques."

"I don't think it's gonna weaken. I think it's being held strong by my willpower. And plus, I have these now." Naruto pointed to his shoulders and turned so that the white haired sannin could see what he was talking about.

"They're just normal tattoos, it's no big deal."

"Wrong. Watch this." Naruto held out his left hand. He formed a perfect Rasengan, it was pure white. It lit up the room as chakra rotated in his palm. "That's not all." He also raised his right arm. Another Rasengan formed. This one seemed to take away the light around it as dark energy exploded outward. The chakra was quickly contained in a sphere and it was focused in a black ball.

"So your chakra and his are that different, then? Yours must act as a counterbalance to keep his in check. That would explain why it's so powerful. Otherwise the dark chakra would overpower it and render your good chakra useless. That's amazing Naruto."

"Yeah, I think the white energy is a bit weaker compared the black, but it doesn't put as much strain on my body when I use it. I'm just glad my chakra control has improved."

"Well, I'm impressed. But how does it work normally? Does your body react differently when you don't focus on one specific type?" Tsunade hiccuped a little after her question, but at least she no longer looked at him with a scowl.

"I don't think so. Unless I force them to combine, I don't have to worry about. A clear and lighter chakra takes over for little things like jutsus and water walking."

Jiraiya chuckled to himself. Hearing a boy his age talk about jutsu as 'small things' was pretty funny. Especially when he was one of the lowest scoring students out of the Academy. Now he could probably take on an ANBU team in a sparing match if he went all out...

"One last thing Naruto, can you still use the 'Fox's Cloak'?"

"Every time I tried, it failed. The farthest I ever got was a shield of white or black chakra. The black one burned me though, so I prefer to use the first one more. I can manipulate the energy however I want. In fact, I'm not even sure as to what happened to the fox..."

"Mmm... Well, as always, you continue to surprise me, Naruto." Jiraiya smiled happily. _'I'll have to examine the seal later. It's not good that he can't contact the Kyuubi. That means more than just their chakra could have combined.'_

"Me too, brat."

Naruto simply averted his gaze and scratched the back of his head. That was the closest he was going to get to a compliment from these two. Something on the desk caught his eye. "Hey, what about the other scroll? I almost forgot about it! Let's open it too."

"Might as well." Jiraiya placed the rolled up scroll on the Hokage's desk and grabbed the other one.

"Oh yeah...that one needs some type of key or something. I tried to open it in the cave but it wouldn't do anything. It's really annoying..."

"Ah! This is one of the locks I designed. It's supposed to be impregnable unless you use a pin coated in the sealer's blood. I only made it to keep documents safe on important missions back when I was a jounin. I guess Minato figured out how to replicate it. Though, I wonder how we can open it without his blood... Maybe it's meant for your's, Naruto. Give a try."

Naruto looked on Tsunade's desk for a pin. "Here brat, use this one." She pulled her hair back and yanked out a pin from behind. Her blonde hair fell back into place, although a small bit was sticking up a little in the back.

"Okay, so I need to cover it in blood?" He pricked his finger and let a drop fall on the small object. The once silver pin now looked crimson. Naruto aligned it up to the hole and pushed it in fully. There was a small click, but nothing else happened. "It doesn't want to seem to open. You try it, Ero-sennin."

The old sannin did so and placed the pin back into the hole. Another click was heard. The small lock opened up and fell to the ground. Jiraiya untied the scroll and read it's contents.

_Dear Sensei,_

_I know my time is short. Scouts say that the Kyuubi is heading towards Konoha at this very instant. But this is very important. I need you to take care of my son. I plan to imprison the demon inside of him. I know that he will be okay with his mother's care, but I will rest easier if you were to help raise Naruto as well. _

_When he is ready, please give him my sword. It is of my family and I wish for him to be able to use it. Please teach him how to properly wield it, but do be careful. This sword will be the other vessel for the demon. I know that my jutsu is too weak to seal it all inside of my son, so I must do it in this sword. It may not be the best idea, but at least this way, the Kyuubi will be forever locked away from destroying my village. I do hope my son can grow to the point where he can also handle this responsibility. _

_Please help Konoha see him for the hero he will be in the future. My only regret in this life is that I cannot grow old watching as he walks in my footsteps as a Konoha shinobi. _

_Thank you for leading me in the right direction and for always being there when I truly needed you. You were an excellent master and I'm honored to have been taught by you. Thank you Sensei, for all you've done for me over the years. You have raised me to be one of Konoha's finest, and I know you'll do the same for Naruto._

_  
Minato_

A tear fell from Jiraiya's eye as he finished reading that last part. He had failed to fulfill his student's dying wish. At least he could try to make it up to both of them now. Jiraiya let more of the scroll open. Inside was a summoning circle. This one was written in red and had a strange mark in the center. The old man rubbed his thumb against it and activated it. Out came a black bag with a spiraling symbol on it, very similar to the one Naruto wore over his shoulder.

"What did it say?"

Jiraiya kept darting his eyes from the scroll to the bag in his hand. "Uh? Oh right, sorry. It was a message for me. But it did say something about you. Here kid." Jiraiya threw the sack over to Naruto who caught it and pulled up to eye level to examine it.

"What's this?"

"An Uzumaki heirloom. Keep it safe."

Naruto smiled to himself. Now he had something more to connect him with his parents. A thought occurred to Naruto. "Hey, Ero-sennin, umm... what happened to my mom?"

A look of remorse crossed both Tsunade and Jiraiya's faces at that.

"She died Naruto. Just after you were born, she passed on. There was very little they could do about it. All of the available medic-nins were out tending to the wounded from the Kyuubi's attack. There was too much commotion and she couldn't make it."

Naruto just stood there, looking at his bag, a blank expression was on his face. From a distance, it looked like his eyes grew colder and even darker in color. But that couldn't be right, could it? Must have just been the light playing tricks.

"Hey Naruto. I have something else I want to give you. It's from your father. I think you'll like it. Come over here."

Jiraiya opened up a small pocket along his shirt. Out popped a miniature sized scroll. He unraveled it and spread it out on the floor in front of all three of them. Tsunade looked on with interest at what was happening. Today was just getting more and more interesting.

"Naruto, bite your thumb and push chakra into that summoning circle. I took some blood from you after your birth so that I could create this seal. Your father asked that I have this handy. I thought he just wanted to keep his treasure safe, so I thought it would be fitting to have it open only to your chakra and blood."

Naruto did so, moving his finger across the paper. A small plume of smoke rose up. When it disappeared, a kodachi, no longer than two feet lay before them. "Is that...his?"

"Yes, this is the blade of the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou . It is affixed with a special seal that was used with the Hiraishin no jutsu. Your father developed it in order to fight. But Naruto, there is something even more special about this blade. This kodachi is extremely powerful because it holds the Yin half of the Kyuubi's chakra. Just holding it can influence a weaker man's mind. I didn't know that when I sealed it many years ago. I never thought to take it out of it's sheathe, because it is not rightfully mine. It is yours Naruto. It is the final part of the Yondaime's legacy to you and Konoha. I am sorry for not giving it to you earlier, but I finally feel that now you are ready for it. By taking this blade, you accept the responsibility of keeping the Kyuubi sealed away. Are you up for it, Naruto?"

Naruto looked down at the blade in his hands. The sheath and hilt were bright blue. The color matched his eyes perfectly. Along the hilt was a piece of black rope that was tied tightly over it in an intricate pattern. On the bottom of the hilt was a seal. A kanji marked 'Seal'. It was carved into the metal that made up the sword's bottom. Up the sheath was the drawing of a dragon that moved up to the tip of it. At the very end of the sheath the dragon's mouth opened wide, revealing a set of ferocious looking teeth that reflected the light back. Every thing was so detailed.

His thumb knocked against the hilt, pushing the blade out and inch. He took the kodachi and pulled it out in all it's glory. The blade was silver. It shined brightly in the light. Along the sharpened edge, Naruto could have sworn there was a hint of blue being reflected back. Naruto pulled the sword close, ignoring the tingling feeling he felt in his right hand. On the reverse side of the blade was an inscription written in very small letters.

_Those who love, fight to protect._

_Those who hate, fight to destroy._

Naruto repeated the words several times in his head. Both Jiraiya and Tsunade looked at the boy patiently. Finally he spoke.

"Yes. I am ready." He said calmly as he slid the sword back into its sheath.

Both of the sannin could only smile at him.

---

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to get the next one out sooner. And I know that's not how the fox was sealed. I changed it for several reasons. But those aren't important right now. I also hope this chapter was able to clear up some stuff, even if it raised more questions. As always, if you have a question, ask me and I'll try to answer it as long as it isn't a major part of the plot.


	14. It's Good to Be Back

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Okay, as promised, this chapter has Ino in it. And it's even longer. Read, review, enjoy.

Kage Shuriken Bunshin – Shadow Shuriken Clone

Fuuton: Kaze Tsume – Wind Release: Wind Claw

**It's Good to Be Back**

Tsunade stood up from her chair. This movement drew Jiraiya's attention, but Naruto's was still focused on his new kodachi. Over his shoulder was his new solid black bag that hung loosely to his left. On the front flap, the Uzumaki clan symbol stood proudly. It looked like a normal messenger bag, but Naruto could tell that there was something more about it.

The elder blonde distracted Naruto from admiring his blue sheathed blade by slamming shut a door to a safe in the wall on the far corner of her overly large office. "Ahh... Since Jiraiya's gone and given you some stuff, I guess I'll chip in something as well. Here brat." In her hand sat a pair of scrolls, each just over nine inches long. The kanji letters 'three' and 'four' were printed on the green paper on top of both scrolls. One looked to be older than the other. At least by ten years.

"What's that?" he asked quizzically. It wasn't like Tsunade to go around giving something out like this.

"These... are scrolls of the Hokage. There is one technique that the Sandaime created in here." She held up the one with the three horizontal marks. "And this one was created while your father, the Yondaime, was still Hokage. They're both A-class jutsu, Naruto. But given your demonstration here today, I think you can handle them just fine."

The younger blonde couldn't say anything in response, mostly because his tongue was hanging out of his mouth dumbly. "You...you mean it!?" His cheerful and free spirited tone had returned full force and he smiled brightly. Tsunade felt better knowing that she could have made his day even more eventful.

"On one condition. Be careful learning these. It took years for Sarutobi-sensei and Minato to perfect these jutsu. Each is very difficult to learn. One relies on shape manipulation, the other elemental."

"What element?" He asked, hoping it was one of the two he was well acquainted with. He didn't feel like taking a lot time training again. He just got back from nothing but mastering and practicing jutsu, after all.

"It's the one you're familiar with, so I think you'll enjoy using it."

"What's it called?"

"Look at it yourself, you lazy brat." She sat back down, pouring another dish of sake for herself.

Naruto slipped his left hand over to his bag and pulled aside the flap. The new items slid easily into different rounded pockets specifically designed for safe transport of scrolls. "Thanks, Obaa-chan."

"Yeah, yeah, now get out of here. You're too energetic for me right now. I need to take a nap..."

Jiraiya snickered a little at that. It was about time they broke up this little reunion. He had some very crucial research to get back to.

Naruto stepped over to his scroll collection and began sorting them into a large pile for resealing. He still hadn't read half of them since discovering them, and the ones he did didn't seem too interesting at the time. He'd probably look back over them when he had some down time.

With a swish of his hand, all of the smaller scrolls were sealed within the large one. "Well, I guess I'll see you around then." With that, Naruto pulled his over sized scroll over his back and walked out of the Hokage office, kodachi in hand.

"Hey, Tsunade," Jiraiya voiced when the door was closed, "I'd be careful about giving him some missions for a while. I still want to examine that new seal before he does anything too drastic. Okay?"

Tsunade lowered her sake dish. Her face was a little flushed from the alcohol, but she held her head up like everything was completely natural. "Huh? Ah... I'm going to give him some time to rest up. He's been training for six months straight. I'll give him a while to back to normal."

Outside the door, Naruto heard every word being said. Sensitive hearing had it's pluses, that's for sure. He smiled to himself. They treated him like he was their kid or something... He shuddered at the thought of both of the sannin raising him. He'd be a super-pervert alcoholic. What a sight that would be.

The blonde Jinchuuriki walked down the narrow hallway, nodding to the occasional person he passed. As soon as Naruto rounded the corner, he flinched. There, not more than twelve feet away was Sakura, tapping her foot madly in the soft yellow carpet. She sat on a sofa, usually reserved for someone requesting a mission. Normally Naruto would have been ecstatic to see his pink haired teammate, but the look in her emerald eyes held some trace of killer intent. That was never good.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. How have you been?" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, trying to act innocent. She was pissed. And if history taught Naruto anything, he knew what that would lead to.

"Where the hell did you go!?" She asked roughly after storming over to him.

"Okay, we can talk about that first. I um...went training."

"For six months!? You didn't even have Jiraiya-sama with you this time, you idiot. Now where were you? Hell, at least last time you gave me a heads up. I had to learn it from Kakashi-sensei after a week of not seeing you. What the hell, Naruto!?"

"About that...it was sorta a spur of the moment thing, you know?" His finger still raked his blonde hair, giving a cheerful smile while Sakura was preparing to go into full bitch mode.

"No, I don't know, dammit. You were acting weird before you left on a mission, which you also neglected to tell me about. Then you just up and leave for half a year. Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I just had some things to do. That's it." Naruto's tone changed from carefree to that which could only come from years of experience and hardship. Sakura jumped a little at how quickly his mood had switched. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I think I want to head home."

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

"I mean, no. You're not going anywhere until you tell me what happened. Something is different about you, Naruto. Now spill it."

"Not now...I've been kooked up in a cave for a _really_ long time and the closest thing that I've had to a shower in six months has been a cold bath in some random stream. Now, I want to head home. I'm tired. I promise I'll tell you more about it later, deal?"

Before the kunoichi in front of him could respond, he disappeared. A split second later he had his back to her. "See ya."

He rushed off through the winding hallway and down the flight of stairs.

"Damn it, Naruto..."

---

Naruto sat with his head bowed in his small shower. Steaming hot water flowed from th nozzle just eight inches above his head. All of the stress and hardship he had endured in the last six months were finally beginning to fall away under the suffocating current. He reached up slowly and rubbed the base of his neck gently. A soft moan escaped his lips as he massaged the knot that had formed from strenuous training. All of the stress, doubt, worry, everything was just finally leaving his body as he sat in the scalding hot water even longer. Naruto kept his eyes closed as more of the relieving liquid cascaded over his face. He could actually feel the dirt and grime falling away down the drain near his feet. A hot shower was so much more invigorating than a cool bath in some piss-poor excuse for a stream in the wilderness. Oh how he missed the familiar feeling of being clean.

After another twenty unbelievingly calming minutes in the shower, Naruto cut off the water by the spigot and grabbed his towel. Damn he needed that.

"Ugh... I wonder what time it's gettig to be..." Naruto pondered as he dried off his red tinted blonde hair. His hair had grown considerably longer in the last six months. It was once short enough to be kept up by his hitae-ate, but now it hung over the metal plate and covered his vision some. That would need to be taken care of. He wrapped the towel around his waist and walked into the main room of his apartment. "Hm...It's only half past one. I can head to Ichiraku's after the lunch rush in an hour or so. Mmm...miso ramen..." History had taught him to steer clear of Ichiraku's during the kunch rush. There were simply too many people ordering and not enough people to make the meals. It was better to wait until mid afternoon or early evening.

Naruto dressed in his usual orange attire, stopping for a second to let his tattoos burns holes in his shoulders. The marks were the same shape and size as the first day they appeared, the only real difference was that Naruto could sometimes feel one arbitrarily spark up with a burst of power. It wasn't much of a change from the normal flow of chakra, but it was enough to draw attention to itself. Naruto himself sometimes doubted that there was anything at all, seeing in the chakra spike was only momentary before it stabilized. Then again, there were a lot of new traits that Naruto hadn't fully discovered about this power.

Naruto pulled on his pants near the bottom in an effort to cover the expose skin by his shins. Normally his black shoes would cover it, but there had to have been at least three inches of flesh showing. He must've grown a lot over his training trip. Now that he thought of it, his jacket and undershirt felt a little tight as well. _'Damn, that means I need to go clothes shopping soon. Ugh...I hate having to do that...' _Naruto trailed off as he looked around his apartment. His massive scroll was set on his table while everything else was in a heap next to the bathroom door.

_'Might as well look at the stuff Obaa-chan and Ero-sennin gave me. I still need to check out that bag since I didn't have much time in her office... Damn woman and her inability to stay awake after drinking sake.' _Naruto picked up his black messenger bag from the pile of clothes and equipment he dumped off when he first got home. He sat cross legged on his bed and admired the symbol on the front flap. It was so rich in detail. The soft blue spiral was close in color to his kodachi which lay on the floor beside his bed.

Cautiously, Naruto flipped open the bag, going through the abundant pockets and sections inside. He removed the two scrolls he received earlier in the morning and set about finding something more in the mysterious 'heirloom'. The blonde carefully examined the material that made up the outside of the bag. It was soft to the touch, but stretched tight, it became hard like rock.

"Hm...I wonder..." Naruto pondered aloud. "What if I..." Naruto rubbed his fingers over the slack part of the fabric. After a moment, he pushed the slightest amount of chakra into it. Like he predicted, the side flattened immediately, creating a perfectly smooth surface area. Naruto pushed more chakra into the entire bag and watched as it assumed a box like appearance. "So it is a combat bag... The material must have been cut with chakra then treated so that it can adapt to battle and act as a protective casing for something inside. Very smart..."

After several more minutes of stretching the bag and checking the integrity of the stitching, Naruto was satisfied that this was indeed a wonderful accessory for battle. The thing was designed to hold kunai, shuriken, scrolls, anything the average ninja needed in the field. And as long as he kept a steady stream of chakra in it, it would stay in one piece.

Naruto picked up the object, preparing to fill it with his various ninja tools and weapons when he noticed a hidden pocket along the bottom of the bag. His curiously was piqued, so naturally he pulled on to reveal its contents. In the small area was a gold chain with some sort of delicate looking piece of metal. He pulled the small necklace to eye level and saw that it was a flower, carved from solid gold. Naruto's heart nearly skipped a beat when he realized that the item in his fingers could very well have been his mother's. A single tear drop formed in his eye at the realization. He had something to connect his mother to. There was no price anyone could put on that.

The seconds ticked by and finally Naruto placed the necklace on his bed, taking a sidelong glance at it as he peered back into the hidden pocket that made up the bottom of his increasingly valuable bag. He had been too distracted to notice the medium sized black notebook that the charm had been laying upon. Like the other object, Naruto held it close to his face, looking it over. On the front of the book was the Leaf's symbol. Just flipping over the cover revealed a photo of a blonde man with bright blue eyes holding a shorter red head in his arms. Both were standing on what looked like the Hokage monument, with the mountains of the Land of Fire in the background.

Naruto inhaled suddenly, these two people were his parents. _'So that's what my mom looked like. She looks so...beautiful. They both seem so...happy.'_ A pang of sadness hit home as Naruto thought deeply for several minutes. These people wanted him. They wanted to love him. They wanted to shower him with love and affection and treat him like a person. Like a son. They wanted to watch him grow up and live life. They wanted to see him with a family of his own one day. But now, they both were dead. Because of...the most feared of the bijuu. The demon that resided inside of him. The one that was responsible for both of their deaths, including countless others from clans loyal to Konoha. The very demon that had threatened to eat Naruto alive the very second he was free. And there was nothing he could do to avenge them. Nothing at all. And deep down, in the core of his soul, that is what hurt the most at the moment. The realization that he truly was alone, with no one to love him. Sure he had gained many friends over the years, but they always seemed to look at him with a glint of uncertainty in their eyes whenever he displayed his tenant's power. There was really no one he could think of that really accepted him whole heartedly besides Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya. No matter what he did to prove himself, there wasn't someone his age who had shown him full acceptance.

Naruto closed the book, hiding the painful image from his sight. He opened the only drawer in his bedside table and placed the book inside. Naruto decided to go through it sometime, but not now. He couldn't handle it all right now.

Wiping the salty water from his eyes, Naruto stood up and grabbed his pouch from the belt loop of his pants. He expertly handled the kunai and shuriken he took from the circular shaped satchel he used to carry and hid them in various pockets in his new bag. He added additional scrolls to the two jutsu scrolls. They were mainly sealing techniques he could use for extra weapons, or a summon if necessary. Remembering that he still hadn't gone over the two techniques that Tsunade had given him, Naruto picked up green scroll labeled 'Three' and opened it.

_'Whoa! She wasn't kidding when she said this would be good for me. Kage Shuriken Bunshin no jutsu. So this is what the Sandaime created...'_

He skipped the instructions for now. The blonde had just spent a good amount of time training, he figured he had deserved himself a little break for a while. At least until Tsunade got on his case for not doing any missions.

Naruto pulled himself from his musings long enough to open the other jutsu scroll in front of him. _'Let's see what else the Yondaime invented... Oh a Fuuton jutsu, eh? Sounds fun... Fuuton: Kaze Tsume... Oh this will be so awesome!'_

Naruto rose to his feet after repacking the two training scrolls into his bag. He may have to start training those pretty soon. They sounded so cool. At least he had experience in creating Kage Bunshin and wind based chakra. Plus with his clone training, he could learn the two jutsu in a little over a week, depending on how many clones he could conjure up. At least this time around he didn't have to master a new element.

Naruto nestled his new bag over his right shoulder with the bag hanging next to his left hip. The strap was crossing his chest. It would be less than convent to take it off in battle, but at least it would stay stable when he ran. His new kodachi was hanging across his back. The hilt of the blade was just over his right shoulder. That way he could use it with his right hand in a fight. The Jinchuuriki's reflexes were honed to the point where he could grab the sword in less time than it took to blink. Of course, he didn't know shit about using the thing, but at least it looked intimidating. All in all, he didn't look too bad. Naruto locked his door and set off for the number one ramen stand in all of Konoha.

It took all of four minutes for Naruto to land in front of Ichiraku's. He hated living on the other side of town from his favorite restaurant. It had been six very long and excruciating months since he had tasted ramen that hadn't been prepared over a campfire. He seriously wanted some ramen.

Naruto moved aside the drapes and held it as a man left as the last part of the lunch rush. The stand was empty, save the elder Ichiraku at the stove.

"Hey...O-chan! I'll take a huge bowl of miso ramen as soon as possible!"

The older man behind the counter raised his head from his pot of hot noodles. "Na-Naruto?" Teuchi looked over his shoulder at the smiling blonde who just entered his ramen stand. "Why... if it isn't my best customer? Where've you been?"

Naruto undid the strap holding his kodachi to his back and rested it against the counter. Then he lifted his fully stocked bag over his shoulder and placed it beside his sword. A moment later and he was sitting in his favorite seat, in the exact center. "Ah, I was training. It was really important that I stay alone for a while so I couldn't drop in for a bowl of ramen anytime I wanted. Trust me...there were so many times I wanted to rush into town and get some!"

Teuchi laughed heartily for a moment before settling down. "Well, you're here now. Let me get you some of my best ramen, on the house."

"Really!? Oh, you're the best, O-chan!" Naruto sat down, watching Teuchi prepare his food hungrily from his seat.

The smells wafted into his sensitive nose, overpowering his brain. He started to drool a bit, savoring the scent of the delicious ramen he was about to choke down. Luckily there was no one there to see the embarrassing sight.

Naruto heard footsteps just outside the stand. They stopped. Then he heard a swishing sound as the cloth was pulled back so that someone could enter the humble restaurant.

Naruto was too busy to pay any attention to the person who just walked in, he was rubbing his chin in a pitiful effort to clean off his drool. All he saw out of the corner of his eye was a green vest, usually given to someone of chuunin or jounin rank. He figured it was a man, based on the way the person carried himself. But then the man sat next to Naruto on his left. That was odd, seeing in there were at least eight other seats he could have chosen that weren't right beside him.

Satisfied that he had removed all of the drool from his chin, Naruto looked over the person who had just sat down. His features instantly broke when he realized who it was. Iruka.

Said man returned a smile that rivaled Lee's in size. "Hey Naruto. Good to see you're back." Iruka continued smiling pleasantly until he reached back and popped the younger blond man on the back of the head. "Yeah, next time you decide to drop off the face of the earth, think about giving me a heads up. You wouldn't believe how many times Sakura came around asking if I'd seen you. Don't put me in that position again, idiot."

Naruto just grinned sheepishly, glad to see that he was missed. He gently massaged the back of the head where he was playfully struck and replied, "Sorry, Iruka-sensei. I kinda wanted to get going as soon as possible. And I didn't know just how long I would have been gone. I didn't really know how much I'd be missed, so I just did my own thing. Although I'm surprised Obaa-chan didn't tell you. Did you at least ask?"

"No, Sakura told me how many times she was rejected for asking questions so I figured it'd be best to just wait and ask you."

By now, Teuchi had finished the bowl of ramen for Naruto. He set down one large dish and then placed another beside it. "Here you go Iruka-san, the usual. Right on time."

Iruka smiled again, this time towards the aging ramen maker. "Thanks. Looks great."

"You come here a lot? I thought you only came with me to treat me every now and then..."

"I've been coming everyday after I'm done at the Academy. Usually it's around three o'clock. Teuchi-san knows my favorite type of ramen since I'm here so much, so he usually has a bowl ready by the time I arrive."

"It sounds like you eat as much ramen as I do." Naruto laughed a little to himself and reached for some chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu!" They both cheered before delving into their respective bowls. Naruto finished his in a little over a minute while Iruka was pacing himself with his.

"Ah...It's been too long. O-chan! Another, please."

"Coming right up."

Naruto shifted in his seat, causing Iruka to look over at his former pupil. It had been a while since he had really gotten to talk to the boy. He looked him over from top to bottom, then he took a glance at his gear at their feet.

"Looks like you've gone through some changes."

"What do mean?"

"Well, for one, your hair is different, aside from being longer than normal. There's a sword with your stuff and if I remember correctly, you didn't know how to use one last time we met. And you have a tattoo on your shoulder, which begs the question, why did you cut a hole in your clothes?"

"Aren't you the observant one?" Naruto replied sarcastically. He paused at looked over at his meal cooking on the stove ten feet away from him. "I guess you're talking about it being slightly red, then? That happened during my training. I guess it must be a side-effect or something. As for the sword, it's a gift. And I still don't know how to use it. But I plan to soon. And _I_ didn't rip holes in my clothes. _They_ did. They just appeared during my training and then every time I covered them, a hole appeared. It's getting to be annoying now, since all my shirts and jackets have circle shaped cuts in them."

Iruka choked on the noodle in his mouth. "You have more than one? And what are you talking about, you can't honestly be telling me that your tattoos are damaging your clothes, can you?"

"Yes and yes." Naruto responded casually. It was going to get old fast if he had to explain his new tattoos to every single person. "Suffice it to say that this is like a filter of some sort. It takes my chakra and 'purifies' it so that I can use it more effectively. Hell, I still don't know how it all works, I just know it causes some big damage when I use it for my attacks."

"Well, I guess you live up to the title of number one, most unpredictable ninja...purifying chakra...I have to hand it you Naruto, that does sound pretty weird. Maybe you could show me a demonstration when I have some free time."

There was no response as Naruto was busying clogging his throat with ramen. All Iruka received in response was a nod of the head as his mouth was too preoccupied consuming inhuman amounts of ramen at once.

"This is such great food. But I think I ate too much, too fast. But it was worth it," Naruto said as he leaned his weight back in his stool. "And yeah, that sounds fun. I'll be sure to show you some of my newest jutsu too! Obaa-chan just gave me some new ones to practice. I can't wait to try them out!"

_'At least you're doing well, Naruto. You had me worried when you disappeared after that mission.'_

Iruka finished his bowl and pulled out his wallet. He put money down for both their meals and stood up.

"Oh come on, Iruka-sensei, you don't have to do that. I can pay for myself."

Iruka chuckled lightly. "That may be true, Naruto. But it's not every day I get to spend time with my old students. It's my treat. I'll see you around. Oh and Naruto, I happen to know how to use a kodachi. Come see me if you're interested." The chuunin exited the ramen stand quickly and headed towards his apartment. It was nice to see his favorite student in such high spirits. And now he knew he'd see him more often.

Naruto walked out in the street, stretching as the afternoon air hit his cheeks. He couldn't believe his Academy teacher could help him. Today was just getting better and better. Across the street the cherry blossom trees lining the road danced as the wind picked up more, scattering countless numbers of petals all along the ground. Naruto turned his head, remembering he had his own cherry blossom to deal with. But now wasn't the time. He had to pick out some new clothes.

---

Sakura walked into the Yamanaka flower shop, looking for Ino. She needed to vent on someone since Naruto wasn't around so she could squeeze the information out of him like she wanted. The pink haired girl saw her friend behind the register, watering some new buds on a display case.

"Hey Pig, can you get someone to cover for you? I want to talk."

"Hang on, Forehead." The blonde kunoichi replied as she stood up. She put here head behind the door way and screamed, "Mom! I'm heading out for a bit. Can you watch the shop while I'm gone?"

A few thumps were head, followed by the sound of footsteps. "Why, hello Sakura." the elder Yamanaka woman turned from the pink haired to the blonde. "Sure. Be back before dinner though."

Both girls left the shop, heading to main part of town.

"Okay, Billboard-brow, what is it?"

"Naruto's back. But he's different. And he wouldn't talk to me earlier."

Ino turned to look at her fellow kunoichi. "So, what's that got to do with me? Why do you want to know so much about him all of a sudden?"

"I haven't been able to find him since he ditched me at the Hokage tower earlier. I hoping you could locate him for me. I haven't seen the idiot in almost half a year. And he seems to be avoiding me. Will you help me look for him or not?"

"Sure, but you take the blame if he spots me. I don't want him pissed at me too." Ino joked as she looked for a bird in the sky. Luckily enough, one landed several hundred feet away and stood stock still, watching a worm sluggishly crawl across the broad face of a fence post. Ino formed her familiar hand sign and targeted the bird. The blonde whispered, "Shintenshin no jutsu." Her spirit energy was pulled from her body and into the bird.

_'At least I'm practicing my spy tactics...' _she mused to herself as she took off. Ino flew high overhead, while her body lay lifeless in Sakura's arms. After passing over the main streets six times, she finally spotted something orange. The hawk nose dived and aimed for the bright target. When she was in range, Ino lifted her head and soared over the blonde below. Yep, definitely him.

After landing on a nearby building, Ino released her jutsu. Sakura stared down at the pupil-less eyes below her and smirked when they twitched, signifying that Ino's spirit energy had returned.

"So, did you spot him!?" Sakura asked the second Ino tried to stand on her feet.

"Give me a minute, will ya?" Ino raised herself and then brushed off all the dirt that had accumulated on her skirt when she fell. Sakura could barely contain herself as she fired off another question. "Where is he?"

"About nine blocks that way," she said, pointing in the direction of the shopping district.

"Let's go!" Sakura breathed as she grabbed Ino's hand and made a dash towards that side of town.

---

A/N: Hey everyone. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. And before anyone questions me, no I'm not going into any detail on Naruto mastering the jutsu he received from Tsunade. Better? I got the feeling many of you didn't like the long training chapters (mainly from the numerous reviews berating me for not doing anything but training for almost half the story...), so I'll try to keep it as interesting as possible for the next part of the story. However, I will have some parts of sword training with Iruka. Deal with it. But, aside from that, how do you like it so far? I have some big plans for Naruto's new weapon, but that's about as much as I'm going to say. Just know that his battle style won't rely heavily on it. He's still a shinobi, not a samurai. And for those of you criticizing the lack of a relationship, next chapter has Ino and Naruto hanging out again, so be patient.

And just so I know, should this story have a lemon? From the reviews of my other Naruto fic, I can write them pretty well, but I'm curious to know how many of you would like this fic to earn it's 'M' rating.


	15. An Afternoon in Konoha

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Here's another chapter. It's not fast paced, nor does it have any action, but it was time for Naruto and Ino to start hanging out together again. And last time, when I asked if I should do a lemon, I didn't mean now. I meant for in the future. Sorry if that wasn't clear...I tend to skip over the minute details sometimes. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you like my other Naruto fic, check it out, I just updated it for the first time in months. Read, review, enjoy.

**An Afternoon In Konoha**

Naruto entered yet another clothing store. He had some of the worst luck when it came to finding fitting clothes. Back when he was in the Academy, Naruto was ecstatic about discovering the awesomeness of sweat suites. His peers frowned on the uniform look, but Naruto embraced the blatant refusal to move with the trend. It was refreshing to be able to stand out when others around you pretended to ignore you for an unknown reason. But that was then, and this is now.

He needed something form fitting, yet loose. Something warm and protective, yet allowed for maneuverability and swift moments. And most of all, it had to have some sort of orange.

Naruto was pulled from his thought process by the sound of something falling in the back room then a yelp of anger at whatever had just fallen. The Jinchuuriki was debating whether or not to buy the same suite he had with Jiraiya on their training trip, just in a larger size. Since he had gone, the main stores had really stocked up on some nice looking outfits. And he had tattoos that magically burn holes in any of his clothes so he had to be extra careful when trying something on. That only made things all the more fun...

_'Damn, there's just so much to choose from! I think this looks decent, but then again Sakura-chan will probably bitch that it's too obvious for a shinobi.' _He moved further into the rack of over coats and jackets, looking for something durable and of high quality. '_But what about this? It doesn't look too bad...Argh! Where's a woman's opinion when you need it?'_

This time he was alerted by someone entering the near empty store. Had the place not installed a bell above the door, Naruto wouldn't have even bothered looking up. When he shifted his gaze from the shirt in his hands to that of a heavily breathing Yamanaka, he was surprised to say the least. Especially when she spotted him and bolted to his side. _'Speak of the Devil...'_

"Naruto! Good to see you."

"Hi Ino. What's up wit-"

"Not now. Sakura's looking for you, and she seems really pissed. She thinks you've been avoiding her. Have you?" She breathed deeply. Ino was bending over with her weight on her knees, trying to regain her composure.

Naruto looked over at his fellow fair haired. The way Ino was leaning, it was _revealing._ Naruto's face grew warm as his cheeks became slightly rosy. A little more, and it would match the red in his hair. But, being the polite gentleman that he was, Naruto immediately looked away towards the street. Lady Luck was on his side as Ino was too busy scanning the windows to see if Sakura had followed her to notice the blush.

He waited for the blonde next to him to calm down and then said aloud, "Shit. How pissed is she?"

"Well...you remember when you annoyed her and she punched you hard enough that you broke a solid concrete wall?"

Naruto nodded.

"Times ten."

The red in his cheeks disappeared, along with the rest of the color in his face. That time hurt like hell, if she punched him now, it could kill him if he didn't heal fast enough.

After a couple of moments, Naruto put a grin on his face. "So...why are _you_ looking for me?"

"Because of this, you idiot." She clonked him on the head. It stung for a moment, but it wasn't 1/1000th of what Sakura was going to do. Thank Kami for that. "Where do you get off just up and leaving like that? Sakura was always looking for you, she thought I knew where you were just because you went on the same mission as my dad... And I wanted to warn you about the pink hell storm hunting you down."

"I appreciate it. Does she know where you are now?"

"I doubt it. We split up on the main street. I took the lower half of the stores, she took to the upper near the edge of the forest."

"Good." Naruto placed the article of clothing in his hand on top of a pile and began walking to the entrance of the store. Just outside, he created three kage bunshins. "You head to that end," he said pointing north. "I want you to follow him and take his place if anything happens. When you see Sakura-chan, distract her then run off. Don't make conversation and dodge everything she throws at you. Don't attack back, clear?"

"Yes." Both replied in a monotonous voice. Then in an instant, both were blurring down the street.

"What do I do?" The third unassigned clone asked.

"Head that way." He replied, referring in the opposite direction. "I want you to dispel if you see her. Don't let her see you. Got it?"

The clone nodded and ran off along the rooftops.

"What's that for?" Ino asked from behind the taller blonde. Why are you avoiding her so much?"

Both began walking down the path the one clone had gone. Naruto still kept his eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary, but put a smile on his face.

"Well, call it training. I just got back from six months straight of training and I don't particularly feel like putting up with her bitching at me for leaving the way I did. At least this way I can relax for the afternoon and practice working with my long range scouting abilities. It seems pretty good to me. Besides, you don't look like you want to be chasing after me anyway, right?"

"I guess so." She answered, keeping her face neutral of any surprise that he had thought it through that much in such little time. "It's good to have you back, Naruto. I know this defeats the purpose of you hiding from her and all, but where did you go? You just up and left without a word to anybody. I tried looking for you for my dad. He wanted to thank you for helping him on that mission and all. Finally Hokage-sama told me that you were really busy training, but she wouldn't divulge any more detail."

"That makes sense. She must've kept it really low profile in case it got leaked..."

Ino raised her brow in question. "What are you talking about?"

"Huh? No, no, it's nothing. Don't worry..." Naruto rubbed his head with a dumb look on his face.

"You can tell me the truth, Naruto. I know a lot about you, you know? It's okay to talk if you want..."

"I'd better not. This is pretty important information...not that I don't trust you, because I do. It's just that Obaa-chan would kill me if she found out I went around blabbing secrets of this level."

"Oh." Ino wanted to change the subject, as soon as possible. She felt she had crossed some sort of line when she inadvertently pried into his business like that. Sure she was one to gossip with her friends, but this was different. "So, why are you looking for new clothes? Did you outgrow them or something?"

"That's exactly it. I sorta did some extreme training I guess you could say, but at least I got some awesome jutsu out of it! And this." Naruto said proudly, gesturing at the kodachi hilt which was a foot or so away from Ino's head.

"You can use that?"

"Not really, but it's a blade that only I can use. It was my father's."

Ino stopped walking, the dust behind her trailed past her legs on the dirt road. She kept looking at the blonde that had also stopped. She was finally able to get a good look at him when he turned his face to question her for stopping. The sunlight played off his red-blonde hair and made his blue eyes look otherworldly. She sat in a stupor at the boy in front of her. He was very good looking, well toned, his features looked defined, especially with the unnatural whisker marks that lined his cheeks.

"Something wrong?" He asked kindly.

Yes, something was wrong. Never in all the time that she had ever known Uzumaki Naruto, had he ever mentioned anything about his parents. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. And now he just comes out with it that he's carrying his father's sword?

"That's your father's sword? You mean, your dad once used that sword?"

"Yes." Naruto said stoically. Although his face held no real sign of emotion, Naruto was making a mental note to continue calling it a gift instead of specifying who gave him the kodachi.

Ino continued walking, ignoring the look she received from Naruto. He joined her pace as they looked at the various store fronts in silence. Eventually Ino asked, "So what's with the bag?"

"It's my mother's."

Again Ino stopped. And again Naruto waited.

"Okay Naruto, tell me this. Where did you get these things? You have never mentioned your parents to me before, or anyone, for that matter. What happened?"

"I received them in a scroll I found. I showed to Obaa-chan and Ero-sennin this morning and they said that it belonged to my father. Inside was a set of scrolls, some of which helped to further my training, that held information about my family. Ero-sennin unsealed one of them and gave me this as an Uzumaki heirloom. Then he pulled out a scroll and unsealed this," Naruto placed his hand on his kodachi, "after he read a letter. All I know is this: these are two very precious items given to me by two people I consider the closest thing I have to family. Therefore they are even more special to me. That help?"

Ino kept her pace with the Jinchuuriki. She digested all of this quickly, reminding herself to think about it more later. "So, do you know who your parents are?"

"Yes. But I'd rather not say until I can talk to Ero-sennin again. There are several issues I have with some things."

The smaller blonde was still surprised at how Naruto was handling all this. According to him, he had learned of if just this morning. The old Naruto would have been prancing around, overjoyed at the fact that he had parents. But the one that walked beside her...he was different. He gave cool aura that asked for respect, but did not demand it. At the same time, he portrayed a mask of confidence and skill that she didn't think was possible by someone so young and seemingly hardheaded, mainly because he had said traits to back it. And she used to think that she was beginning to understand the mind of Uzumaki Naruto.

"Ino." His voice dragged her away from her thoughts.

"Yes."

"Could you help me pick out some clothes? I uh...can't seem to find anything that suits me..."

Ino nearly slapped herself in the head. This was a prime example of how damn complicated it was to understand this boy. One moment she's convinced he's matured beyond belief, the next she's not sure if three and half years half really passed since they left the Academy.

"Sure."

Sakura was peering into every window she could find on her portion of the street. She was beginning to doubt if Ino was telling the truth about actually seeing the idiot blonde. She rested against the side of a busy store, letting the fall air of Konoha flow over her. She closed her eyes, just for a moment. Then, out of the blue, she sensed him. At least, she sensed something similar to him. And the best part was, it was coming towards her, fast.

"Henge," she whispered to herself, immediately changing forms into that of an elderly woman. _'Eighty meters...Seventy meters...Sixty...Fifty...Forty...Thirty...'_

The woman dressed in a white cloak with deep brown pants began walking slowly into the main traffic of the street. Then, just as Naruto was ten meters away, she fell. The bag that had transformed with her spilled everywhere, but much of the passerby paid her no heed. Suddenly, a blonde boy dropped next to her. He grinned at her sympathetically and helped her to her feet. A moment later, he was collecting the goods that had fallen from the old woman's bag.

"Why thank you, young man," she said from under her cloak's hood. "I know just how to thank you..."

Naruto still sat there smiling at her when a fist connected with his face. Hard.

The figure that was once an older woman was surrounded in smoke, if only for a second. When it cleared, there sat Sakura, a vein bulging on her larger than average sized forehead. She marched over to the heap of orange that had stopped skidding maybe thirty feet away and reared back to strike him again when it too became surrounded with smoke.

"Damn it," the kage bunshin on a rooftop muttered as saw what was happening._ 'She's gotten trickier.'_

The clone created three more like it and split up. Two went around the fuming pink haired kunoichi, setting up a mock attack while the original clone jumped off the building, heading straight into the forest just three hundred yards away. Once he reached the tree line, he'd be home free. If he could make it in time.

The last clone was sent as a diversion so that the mock attack would look more authentic. Not that it mattered much, Sakura was beginning to catch on. She blurred out of sight and instantly headed off the one trying to escape.

"This isn't funny, Naruto. I just want to talk. NOW!"

A throng of people had gathered to watch the two ninja go at it. They were unpleasantly surprised however when the clones divided again then split up in eight different directions, leaving an infuriated Sakura.

"Looks like Sakura-chan ran into the pair I sent north...good thing this area of town is near the forest. He should be able to lose her in there." Naruto was looking at shirts when he randomly began talking to Ino, who was thrown off at the sudden conversation change.

"You know that she's going to make you pay for this. She was genuinely worried while you were gone, Naruto. I think she has your best interest at heart, even if she resorts to her chakra powered fists more than necessary." Ino replied while picking up another shirt. "Here, take this one too. I think it'll look decent. The least you can do is try it on. But check it out, it's real durable like your bag. I think they did something to it to make it like light armor."

"Thanks. I'll be right back." The reddish blonde said as he began heading towards the back of the store.

Inside the dressing room, Naruto tried on the shirt Ino picked out. It was a real dark color, very close to black. On the front was the Konoha symbol and along the sleeves were etchings of the same leaf, only smaller. Of course Naruto held the sleeves up over his tattoos so that they didn't damage it. But over all it looked decent. It was light, and reacted well when he channeled chakra to certain parts of his body. He couldn't count how many shirts had been ruined in the past because of his abundant energy. At least this would be good enough for sparring.

Naruto slipped on a pair of black cargo pants that stopped three inches short of his ankles. That was good, as his ninja shoes came up to mid shin. He tried stretching in them, bending over, anything he could think of the check to make sure it would survive a 'light' training. Once again, Ino had made a good call. Not only did it have lots of pockets, it had been treated with chakra to make sure it lasted long in battle. The last thing he wanted was a repeat of a particularly embarrassing training session in his early genin days.

Now he just needed a good jacket. Something easy to carry and light enough for combat, but heavy enough to keep him warm. Konoha wasn't know for it's freezing cold winters, but it had happened before.

When Naruto exited the dressing room, he saw Ino with several different articles of clothing in hand. She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Anything to get rid of the orange jumpsuit from hell... And it didn't cost her anything. In fact, she was hoping her services would be rewarded somehow... There was this nice dress back there and she was certain he wouldn't reject her proposal. If he did, she'd unleash the wrath of Sakura upon him. That'd keep him under her control for a while...

"So!? What do you think?"

"Both of those were good. I'm getting them, along with a couple extras in case I mess them up in training or battle or something. What's all that?"

"More clothes I think will do nicely. Just try them on and tell me what you think."

"Okay," Naruto said as he grabbed the small pile of clothes from her hands. There had to have been at least three pairs of long pants, along with four shirts and a jacket of some sort. But, much to Naruto's disapproval, there wasn't any orange to be found...yet.

Of all the things she handed him, only one pair of pants wasn't fit for a ninja. The rest were great. It all fit comfortably, stretched evenly, seemed durable enough to work in. Overall it was a good haul.

"Hey, Ino?"

"Yeah?" the platinum blonde replied casually while shifting through some clothes her size.

"Have you found anything...orange?"

In her own mindscape, Ino slapped herself in the head. She'd been dreading the question. "Why do you like the color so much? It's not the best thing to wear, you know? We are shinobi, after all."

"I wear it as a reminder is all. If you see anything, will you pull it out, please?"

"What kind of reminder? It's just a color..."

"Back before I was at the Academy, I lived in the orphanage. I eventually was pressured into leaving when I was seven. But when I left, Jii-san took care of me. He taught me a lot back then. He told me that I would one day have to depend on myself, so living alone for a while would be good practice. He payed my rent until I could afford it on my own. Whenever I needed something, he was there to help me pay for it. He was like a father to me, so much so that he would sometimes take me shopping whenever I needed new clothes. Before I entered the Academy, he took me shopping for 'some clothes fitting for a ninja' as he said. He let me pick out a style of sweat suite that was meant for training. But when the tailor asked what color I wanted it in, I looked to him for advice on what would look best. Jii-san said 'Orange'. And since that day, I've worn that color to remember him."

Naruto took a breath before continuing, his eyes staring into Ino's as he told his tale. "He was a good man, he never got fed up with me or yelled or hit me or anything. He was always there for me. He taught me what it means to be a ninja, what it means to be a person. Jii-san dedicated his life to being there for people in need, and he gave his life to protect everyone in the village. That's what I want to do one day. I want to be there for people, regardless of whether or not they accept me. As long as I can die knowing that I made a difference to someone, I'll be happy."

The blonde sat there, stunned. She always chalked his clothing choice up to be a cry of attention or something. She never thought it went that deep. Internally she cursed herself for not noticing him sooner. He was so alone in his life...she could have least been his friend back then. The blonde girl turned her head slightly and wiped away the tear that had formed in her eye.

"I'll keep an eye out, Naruto."

"Thanks Ino. I'm going to go try this on." He held up a black button up shirt with medium length sleeves. "I'll be right back."

Ino set out to fulfill her friend's task. After going through piles of clothes looking for something, she finally found it. A long orange sash, perfect to wear as a belt for concealing kunai. And it wouldn't look too bad with his mostly dark clothes.

Naruto returned minutes later, adding the shirt to the growing pile of clothes. He looked up and noticed the long piece of fabric entwined around Ino's hands. "That looks great," he said cheerfully. "Thanks again Ino, you're a lifesaver," he said while surveying the collection of clothes. "I would be so screwed if you hadn't decided to help me. Is there any thing I can do to thank you?"

Ino grin devilishly. "As a matter of fact, I saw this and was wondering..." she pulled on the hanger clenched in her hand from behind her back. "Will you get this for me?"

Naruto eyed the purple dress. It was nice looking, he had to give her that. And it seemed so high in quality, what with the detailed marking sewn into the lining of it. Not exactly something Naruto expected a kunoichi would buy, but girls must really be into having a social life outside of being a shinobi. Who was he to judge?

"Sure. Add it to the pile and I'll go pay for all this." The shorter blonde's jaw slacked a bit. That was too easy. She thought he would have been at least a little harder to persuade.

Ino went on ahead outside. She saw him load the clothes up and the pay for them from outside the window, containing a giggle when she saw his frog wallet. The guy was soon to be an adult...and he carried a frog wallet...named Gama-chan. But then she thought she noticed the cashier...seemingly flirting with Naruto. She looked to be a year or two older than him, and while she was ringing up his items, she kept looking at him funny. Of course Naruto was too dense to take note of it, but it didn't get by Ino. For some reason, Ino felt a mild wave of jealousy course through her at the sight.

She sighed at the realization of this as he walked out of the store with several bags in his hand.

"So is there any thing else you want to do today?" he asked while staring gently into her blank eyes.

"Not really. Why?" She looked at the bags hanging off his left hand, trying to see which one was hers.

"No reason. I was going to go grab myself a bite to eat, then head home or something. I don't know. I kinda want to get some training done. I'll start feeling lazy otherwise... Anyway, you interested in some food?"

"Where do you have in mind?" She asked after forfeiting her attempts to peek inside his bag.

"Well...I had ramen several hours ago... how does sushi sound?"

The blonde nodded in the affirmative and stood next to him as he thought of how to get there from their present location.

"Oh...looks like she found another one. This one was hit on the eastern side of town..." He trailed off then came to a conclusion. "Let's go this way. I know of this good place around here."

Ino mumbled under her breath, "So you do eat more than ramen..." Unfortunately for her, Naruto heard the comment with his improved hearing.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Naruto and Ino neared the restaurant as they continued making small talk on their walk. Just before they entered the cream colored building, Naruto pulled out a blank scroll from his bag.

"What're you doing?" Ino asked with interest.

"Sealing these so we don't have to worry about them while he eat," he said while lifting his right hand up. Naruto laid the scroll on the ground and drew a wide circle on the paper with a pen from his bag. He placed the bags on top of the unfurled item and flicked his finger across the line. A cloud of smoke shot out from the ground and then the bags disappeared. On the paper, encircling what Naruto had just drawn was an encryption that crisscrossed the circle with detailed lines stretching across the page. The taller of the two picked up the item and placed back into it's pocket in his clan bag.

Ino stared dumbly at what just transpired. Sure it was a basic technique, for someone of jounin rank, but it still astounded her at how well versed Naruto was in various fields of jutsu.

"You okay?" he asked when she still stood there as he opened the door for her.

"Yeah, sure."

They both took seats at a table near the back, preferring to stay out of view in the off chance Sakura was around. Naruto glanced over the menu, thinking of what sounded best at the moment.

A woman around their age approached them after a few minutes. "Hello, what would you guys like to start with today?" She eyed Naruto first, looking intently at the blonde.

All the while, Ino couldn't help but feel like she did earlier. She saw the look in the hostess' eye when she asked for his order. Why was she feeling jealous of girls talking to Naruto? It's not like they were together or something... She was pulled from her thoughts when the woman turned to look at Ino for her order. Slightly thrown off, she said the first thing she saw on the list. "I'll have the Lunch Special please."

Their waitress walked back into the kitchen after scribbling something in her notebook.

The blonde pair ate their meal, taking part in a pleasant conversation. Naruto told her of some of his taijutsu training he underwent, leaving out the merging of his soul with the Kyuubi's. Now wasn't the time for that...

Ino shared some of what she had been up to in the last few months. Her father had given her some really intense jutsus to practice, and she was busy coming up with variations of them to use. From what Naruto could tell, her attacks weren't best suited for hand to hand combat or one on one. She needed a group with a plan for her to be most effective on the battlefield.

"It's just really annoying when my attacks don't work because they're so easy to dodge. The most I can do is distract someone with my Bunshin then make an attempt, but the odds of that working are about fifty percent."

Naruto stared off into space for a few moments. To Ino, it looked like he had been ignoring her. She grew annoyed at his behavior and moved a piece of food on her plate for a few a while until Naruto broke the silence. "I have an idea, it'll take a lot of hard work and effort, but I think it might work."

Ino smiled at this, he had been calculating a course of action the entire time... he had definitely changed. "So what is it?" she asked with obvious interest.

"A favorite of mine...Kage Bunshin. But it's A-rank. And annoying as hell to get down."

"You'd be willing to teach me it!? That's excellent!"

"Yeah...I think that it will help you tremendously. Although I don't think you'll be able to use as many as me."

"How many can a normal person pull of? Doesn't it divide chakra evenly or something?"

"Depending on the person, it can range anywhere from two to hundreds. Of course, each one is weaker if they are created in high amounts like that. The only reason mine are so effective are because of my higher than average reserves."

"So...how many can you do at once?"

"I've used over two thousand at once, but that was for training. I had to keep it down so I could still be able to do some work. In a fight, I've used over a thousand at once and kept going. That was when I fought off Gaara in the chuunin exams. I barely had enough chakra to use my boss summon after that," Naruto replied before taking a bite of his sushi plate. He said it like basic knowledge, but was really odd about was that he didn't seem to be bragging about it at all.

Ino dropped her chopsticks which resulted in a clatter of wood on their table. Her eyes were wide with that information. There was no way he was telling the truth on that one. How was that even possible? Finally she composed herself to ask, "What training? How does creating a clone help you master a technique like that?"

"Every time your kage bunshin does something, you learn about it when they disappear. That's how I knew what Sakura-chan was up to earlier. But when I had my clones learn my Rasen Shuriken, I learned what they did and I could improve. I probably overuse the jutsu, but I have enough chakra most of the time to get away with it." Naruto took a sip of his drink then continued speaking, "Since every copy is solid, I can use them to help me in mid-air whenever I get trapped. I use them to distract the enemy and land some better attacks. You saw that one in my fight with Kakuzu. I sent one set after him with my attack to act as a diversion, then another to hit him from behind."

_'He's no where near as smart as Shikamaru, but he sure is brighter than he lets on.'_ Ino continued listening as he spoke about his battle strategy. Team Seven would mostly break up in a fight so each member would usually fight alone against a larger number of people. Their strategy, if you could call it that, was much less organized than Team Ten's. They fought together and created an impeccable plan to overtake the enemy. Of course they had a natural tactician on their team...

As soon as both were done with their meal, Naruto stood up and pulled for his wallet. He laid some money down, more than enough for his meal. It was then that Ino realized he was paying for hers too. "Naruto, don't do that. You bought me that dress earlier. Let me pay for myself."

"I insist. You were really helpful today, Ino. Besides, it's been fun to catch up. Forget about it."

Ino had no choice but to stop arguing about it. He was simply too nice a guy to make her pay for herself. They left the restaurant, walking down the road towards the Yamanaka flower shop.

"I have to train with this thing soon with Iruka-sensei but other than that I'm free whenever you want to learn the Kage Bunshin. I can even show you how I train with them if you want. You won't grow physically stronger, but it helps with chakra control and jutsu style. I used it to master my own taijutsu style."

"I don't think my team is doing anything tomorrow, just tell me where you'll be and I'll try to meet up sometime."

"I think Iruka-sensei will be taking me to the forest to practice in the afternoons. At least, that's where I would do it. I still need to find out more about this sword. I'm not going to be using it very close to Konoha for a while until I can fully understand how it works..."

"What're you talking about? It's just a sword."

"There is an evil chakra sealed inside it. I don't want to accidentally unlock it, but I still have to learn to use it. Otherwise it's just going to go to waste."

"You keep getting more and more interesting, Uzumaki Naruto. You always have something new about yourself that no one else knows about..."

Naruto kept walking. She was right after all, not many people knew too much about it. He hadn't even told people he had mastered a new element while he was gone. And Ino was the first to hear about his taijutsu style. Aside from that, he had hardly divulged any detail as to what he the hell he had been up to half a year. He figured they would learn when the time was right. And it was always good in the shinobi world to let people underestimate you. That way they never saw it coming when you won.

"Yeah..." After that there was mostly silence as they continued walking through the crowded streets of Konoha.

Finally they arrived at Ino's house. Naruto sprawled his sealing scroll out and swiped a finger across it for the bags of clothes. He peered into three of them and found the one with Ino's dress. "Here you go." His hand held the bag in front of her.

"Thanks again, Naruto. I had fun today. Let's do this again sometime."

"Me too. And that sounds good; we'll have to hang out more. I'm going to see if Iruka-sensei will help train me with my new kodachi tomorrow evening, but I'll just be training on my own until then. I suppose that would be the best time to learn Kage Bunshin if you're not busy. It might be best to not have anything else planned, too. I think you might be exhausted afterward."

"Okay, thanks. I'll see you then. Bye." Ino opened the door to the flower shop and went to the doorway behind the counter. Naruto left when she was out of sight.

_'Now to find Sakura-chan...'_


	16. Reunion

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Here is chapter sixteen. Sorry for the long delay, but I've been busy. I'll try not to let my updates take too long from now on, but no promises. To anyone interested, I have a new fic out. It's called **Uzumaki Naruto: Master of the Elements **and so far people seem to be responding well to it. Anyway, let's get on with this story...Read, review, enjoy.

**Reunion**

Naruto silently walked down the street. He had just dropped off Ino after going shopping all afternoon and now he needed to find Sakura. She was probably waiting for him in a dark alley by now...

The blonde Jinchuuriki sighed to himself. Things were, to quote a friend, "so troublesome." Why didn't he just go to her house and see her before disappearing for six months? Because he knew he'd probably regret it. He knew that wasn't a worthy excuse, but still, it was Sakura. The woman was hellbent on having things her way. If he said that he was going, then she wouldn't let him leave until he told her where he was going. And that wasn't a chance he could take. Like or not, secrecy and acting cold were some of the most valuable tools for him at the moment. What with a group of S-rank nuke-nins after him and all. Boy, where they gonna be pissed when they found out what he did...

He hoped they didn't get to see his handy work. This new seal was still foreign to him. Sure, he knew the basics of Fuuinjutsu, but nothing of this caliber. That was Jiraiya's area of expertise. Aside from ninjutsu and perversion.

Speaking of which, Jiraiya still needed to examine the seal. He had seemed very interested earlier and Naruto was actually surprised he hadn't been forced to show it to him more by now. He bet the reason probably involved hot springs...

Oh well, that was just something else to add to his "to-do" list. Right after speaking to Sakura. Which just sounded oh, so fun...

That could either go one of two ways. One involved being honest and her hitting him really, really hard into a concrete wall. The other pretty much ended up the same way, but at least he'd be able to escape with most of his vital organs functioning normally.

Naruto looked up. It was getting darker and the street lights were flickering on in the distance. After six long months of constant training and studying up on jutsus, he was back in his home. Sure, people still didn't respect him. Sure, some would rather have him dead. And sure, the village as a whole seemed to despise his very existence. But there was something deep down that made him fight on. It wasn't about the recognition or acknowledgment. It wasn't about being powerful. It wasn't even about living up to his father's expectations. In the end, Naruto always thought it was because he was truly a good person. He loved everyone he met and tried to befriend them, regardless of how they acted around him. He'd admit, it wasn't the best trait for a ninja, but he wasn't _just _a ninja. He wasn't _just_ a weapon. He wasn't _just_ someone's tool for war. He was a person. And a damn good one at that. And no matter how many people said he was a demon or tried to kill him because of it, he knew that in the end, he was human. And sometimes, that was all that he needed to pick himself up and try again.

Naruto sighed to himself as yet another villager glared at him as he walked past. It would only be a matter of time until all of that changed.

The blonde Jinchuuriki chose to head over to Sakura's house. He figured that she had given up on hunting him down a while ago. Maybe she had some time to cool off and think about why she shouldn't strangle him. Not likely.

Naruto approached the Haruno house. He knocked lightly on the door. He could hear footsteps from inside. Sakura stood there in the doorway after opening the door, with her back turned to Naruto, speaking something to her parents. Then she turned around. Her face quickly contorted into one of pure, unadulterated rage. And Naruto gulped.

"Hey, Sa-Sakura-chan... I told you that I would come by later. Well um... I'm here."

She glared at him before rearing back to deck him. Naruto noticed this sudden movement and dodged in the nick of time. "Okay, we can do this," he said while backpedaling away from her. She let out a cry of rage and slammed the door before following the blonde. Naruto took this opportunity to run. Really, really fast.

"Come back here, Naruto! I'm going to make you sorry for making me chase your clones all day!" Sakura roared as she took chase. The two headed away from the main residential district.

"Calm down and I will. But right now you scare me, Sakura-chan!"

"Be a man and take your punishment!" Sakura said as they went passed the tree line of the forest. "How dare you leave like that and send me on a wild goose chase the first day you get back!"

"I had to do it, Sakura-chan," Naruto called back to his pursuer.

"Bullshit, Naruto. You could have at least told me."

"Sakura, it would have been bad if people knew where I was. Only Kakashi-sensei and Baa-chan knew where I was training and that's because they were there when I left!"

Sakura tried to catch up with Naruto, but she was already at her maximum speed. Both were blurs amongst the trees of the forest. "Why didn't Shishou give me a message then? Why did she stay so secretive?" Sakura asked as she began flexing her arm muscles. She was going to catch up to him sooner or later.

Naruto picked up more speed. Sakura had just unleashed another massive wave of chakra laced with killer intent. "Sakura! Enough of this! We are teammates. We shouldn't be acting like this! I get it! You're upset! But so am I! So let's stop this! We're acting like children!" Naruto screamed back to his pink haired friend. You more than me, but still...'

Naruto landed neatly up ahead; Sakura, a moment later. Naruto could just feel the anger rolling off her in waves. She was still going to try to kill him, he just knew it. "That's better. Now, I'll answer as many questions as possible as long as you settle down and stop charging your fists with chakra. Deal?"

Sakura looked thoughtful for a moment. On the one hand, she could beat the shit out of him here, since they were out of screaming distance from the rest of the village. On the other, she really wanted to know just what the hell had kept him busy for so long. Then she could beat him within an inch of his life. Yeah, that one worked. "Fine."

"All right. Now what do you want to know?" Naruto asked while looking up in the tress. He had chosen a particularly wide clearing to land in. He never knew when her temper would get the best of her and she'd go ballistic over nothing. At least here, he had a large area to escape her "Death Fists," as he had playfully nicknamed them.

"Damn it, Naruto...you can't just do this! What about me? What about Team 7? What about Sasuke-kun?"

Naruto visibly winced. He had thought of his ex-teammate very much over his time away. He wanted desperately save him. But then, one day he woke up and that hope, that determination, that dream...it just seemed...pointless. He knew that Sasuke had been consumed by darkness. And he knew that he was the only one who could help him. But why did he begin to feel so distant about? Why did these feelings just become known to him one day? He didn't know. He just knew that after that day, he had forced himself to forget it. He forced himself to grow up. He forced himself to accept the truth: Sasuke was gone. That was it. There was nothing more that could be done.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan. I really am. But...I don't think things can go back to the way that they were. We are shinobi. We aren't supposed to be able to handle things like this. And I know how hard it is. I just...don't think that we can...bring him back."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Na-Naruto...what are you...What are you saying, Naruto?!" Her voice was filled with fury. Her hands unconsciously tightened into a pair of fists. "What about your promise? You...you said that you would bring him back, Naruto. You made "a promise of a lifetime!" How can you say something like this?! What about your nindo? Did you just give up on that, too!?" Tears streamed down the kunoichi's face in a very non-ninja-like way as she spoke.

"I'm sorry, Sakura."

Said girl stayed silent. Her pink hair that wasn't kept down by her hitai-ate moved gently in the moaning wind. The wind stopped suddenly, letting her hair fall back to her scalp in slight disarray. She spoke. "Bring him back."

"Sakura, I can't. I don't think I can do bring back Sasu-" He didn't get to finish.

"Not him. Bring back Naruto. The real Naruto. Quit this charade and bring back the Naruto I know. Bring him back. Now."

Naruto let the words hit him, wash over him, sink into him. "Sakura, this is me."

"NO IT'S NOT! THE REAL NARUTO WOULDN'T SAY SOMETHING LIKE THIS! BRING HIM BACK, **NOW!**" she shouted at the top of her lungs, her head still low. She sobbed silently.

Naruto looked at his female teammate. She was affected this much? Just from him? How was that possible? She only treated him a friend since he came back with Jiraiya and less than that before. He did stupid things and they got along like it was perfect, despite the absence of their Uchiha comrade. He had never really thought about how influential he truly was. No one really seemed to notice, except those he had affected. Naruto had the greatest gift a person could ask for except the one who had it and he didn't even know. He was the answer to many people's prayers, except his own. It was impossible to put into words. It was just a combination of his strength and his determination that left an indelible mark on anyone's soul, forever changing them after just coming into contact with him. That was it: change. Naruto inspired change.

Naruto had never fathomed he had elicited such emotion and feeling in his teammate like this. He had always wanted that in his younger days. He had wanted her to like him, to acknowledge him, to treat him special. And she never did. But he remained optimistic, still hopeful that she would treat him like the one she claimed to love. And even after spending every day for two and a half years thinking about her, longing for her, loving her; she never returned his feelings when they were reunited. The most she did was treat him like a "friend" and nothing more.

Still, he tried to get her to see him like he was. But she persistently rejected his love. So, when he left again, he thought that this time he would be able to make her love him. Instead, something happened that allowed him to...move on. Naruto, the boy no one loved, saw things better. He just accepted the brutally cold truth that Sakura was not right for him. And the part he still didn't understand was this: why didn't he feel regret about giving up? He may never know, but he did know that there was someone who out there who would look past everything and see him, Naruto, and would love him, acknowledge him, treat him special. Not as a demon, nor an abomination, nor a weapon; but as someone who was aching to be loved. Little did he know, he had already found her. Now if only he could see that.

"Sakura." The single word, although spoken many times in the conversation, held something hidden in the tone unlike before. The addressed girl ceased her crying and looked back up to Naruto, who stood there with an unreadable expression upon his features. "I intend to fulfill my promise. I just can't guarantee that you will like the result. I'm sorry, but Sasuke is lost to us. If I am able to bring him back, I fear it will be as a corpse."

The blood drained instantly from the former fangirl's face. Her mouth shaped like she was preparing to speak. "Na...ru...to..." she whispered more to herself than her fellow ninja.

She had no idea how to take this. Naruto, her Naruto, had said that he might have to kill Sasuke, her Sasuke. Her ever obedient, idiotic Naruto would have to kill the object of her every daydream, fantasy, and dream for the last nine and a half years since she first saw him on the first day in the Academy. She was...destroyed. But the thing she found worse than the thought of her beloved Sasuke-kun's death was the fact that it was her best friend that would be doing it. That stung the most.

"I'm sorry, Sakura," he said, effectively regurgitating the same thing again. "I don't know how much you loved him, but I don't think he can't be saved. If he was willing to put us behind him for power, when we were practically family, then I see no alternative. He...he wanted to kill me that day. I think he would have, too. But for some reason he didn't. He didn't stop because he thought back to those days when we close, or because he saw me as his brother. No; he didn't kill me because...his brother told him to. He didn't care about my life. He cared about defying his brother, that's all. It took me this long to figure all of this out, but I did. And I regret it more than anything. I want things to be different; I really do. But it seems that things can't work out for us in the end.

"I don't expect your forgiveness. I know that what I'm saying doesn't make sense to you, but it does to me. And I don't think I can bring him back to you. He...he's too far gone for our help to pull him back. Sakura, I hate this more than you do, but I am sorry. I just hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me in the future."

There was no response; that much was expected on Naruto's part. He stood there for several agonizingly long minutes, watching as Sakura's eyes became colder and more withdrawn. She fell to her knees silently. And then she let a single tear fall once more before passing out, falling forward in the process.

Naruto moved to stop her from hitting the ground. He picked her up gently, adjusting his arms to hold her bridal style. He looked down at her passed form nestled tightly in his muscular arms. She held a sad, almost heartbroken look on her face; her cheeks were still wet from the tears earlier.

Naruto took to the trees, moving just fast enough to make the trip short but not enough so to disturb her. He landed just outside of the edge of the forest a few minutes later. The blonde Jinchuuriki looked at the sky, almost completely purple with the setting sun. The village's lights lit up the area, long shadows reaching even his shape, some two hundred yards away. Naruto walked to the furthest point of town, near the village's residential neighborhoods.

Naruto kept on walking, keeping his eyes low. He approached the house of his sleeping teammate. Deciding not to make a scene about arriving at her parent's door with her unconscious, Naruto opted to try her window to her bedroom. The blonde Genin went around the side stealthily, not that he needed to; Sakura's parents weren't shinobi, nor were any of her extended family from what Naruto could tell. There was little chance that they would hear him. He stopped at what he guessed was her room. The inside was pretty hard to see, but Naruto noticed a bedspread with a reddish hue. The Genin took off his sandals and left them next to him on the ground. Naruto silently slid the window open and slipped inside, managing to keep Sakura from hitting the wall in the process; he wasn't as lucky.

Naruto walked over to the bed, making sure his cargo was still fine. He placed her on the mattress and made his way back to the open window, turning his head only to whisper, "See ya later, Sakura." Naruto stepped into his shoes and closed the window before disappearing into the approaching night.

Naruto slept deeply. His body needed some really good rest after sleeping on the floor of a cave for over six months. The Jinchuuriki woke up early, like normal. He checked his kitchen for some food, having to toss most of it for going bad in his extended absence. He settled on a bowl of ramen from one of his sealing scrolls. Naruto made a mental note to get some more food; he had consumed most of his stash while training. His clothes shopping had set him back a bit; he also needed to ask for a good mission soon to bring in some more funds. At the very least, he could just use Kage Bunshin and complete a dozen or so D-rank missions; that would last him for a while if there was nothing else. He only prayed it didn't come to that.

Finishing his bowl of ramen, Naruto went back to his bed to try to find the scroll from the day before. He wanted to shower and change then start learning his new jutsus. Unsealing the shopping bags with the swipe of a finger, Naruto laid out his ensemble for the day: a long pair of black ninja pants, a white t-shirt, a brown button up over shirt, and the orange sash. Naruto left a clone to put together his supplies and gather it by his clothes while he went to shower. Having clones never got old.

The only real things he had to do was check on Sakura and see if Iruka was available to work on his kodachi training. He never thought much about taking up Kenjutsu before; sure, he thought swords were badass (who didn't?), but they never seemed to fit his style. Of course, he never really got to tell just how a sword would be with his taijutsu and ninjutsu style. The only real Fuuton jutsus he knew were basic, except for the **Rasenshuriken** and **Fuuton: Rasengan**. But those relied on point blank contact. Unless he were to come up with a way around that. That would make them so much more efficient and there would be less chance of damaging himself in the process.

He had been practicing on some minor Fuuton jutsus, or at least, getting down the basic concept and trying them out after Suiton training. And then he had this new one from his father. It sounded like it too would need to be point blank, but if he was successful with making the other two longer range, then there was the chance that this could be done too. And he had something from the Sandaime: **Kage Shuriken Bunshin no jutsu.** It involved some pretty complicated looking chakra dispersion to be able to make a shuriken moving in the air replicate however many times over. He was putting learning that one off for second.

Naruto stepped out of the shower clad in only a towel and walked outside the steamy room. His clone had just dispersed to let him know everything was ready. Naruto dressed quickly. He chose to let his sash go across his chest and over his left shoulder. It had some extra rooms and even a pair of small straps on the inside. Naruto assumed that they were for hiding weapons. He picked up his blue sheathed kodachi and put it next to his chest, making sure it wasn't noticeable from the outside. It fit snuggly and best of all, his right hand could reach behind it and pull the blade out in less than an instant from below. The hilt rested just above his right thigh while the end of the sheath was near his left shoulder. He jumped once or twice, experimenting to see if the sword would fall from it's straps or sheath. Satisfied at the fact that it didn't move an inch, he continued hiding weapons on his person, deciding to keep his kodachi there.

Naruto walked out of his apartment some ten minutes later, weighed down with his chakra consuming weights, normal weights, his bag filled with scrolls and weapons, and his small collection of kunai hidden in clothes totaling just under twenty. There was no such thing as over doing it to shinobi.

The Jinchuuriki began seemingly flying over buildings, skimming over the rooftops like it was effortless. He made his way to one of his favorite training grounds: number 11. Training grounds 11 consisted of a massive waterfall overflowing into a small lake. There were plenty of trees and stumps around to practice taijutsu on and some training posts with special seals affixed to them to absorb chakra. Basically, you could throw whatever ninjutsu at it you wanted and it would absorb the chakra to help strengthen the earth around it, making it near invincible rock from the massive amount of chakra compressed into it over time. Naruto had discovered the area some time ago by accident. He had been looking for Kakashi so he could get him give him some pointers on finalizing **Rasenshuriken**. Instead, he found one of the best training grounds in Konoha, and as luck would have it, there was almost never anyone there. He just naturally assumed not people knew about it or it's usefulness.

Naruto walked through the gate of the chain linked fence surrounding the acres of land that made up training ground 11. Like usual, there was no one there from what he could see. He headed south, towards a small field of training posts and the waterfall. He wanted a nice warm up before learning **Fuuton: Kaze Tsume.** Naruto made his way through the trees, arriving at the waterfall in no time. He assumed a stance in the middle of the knee deep water. Naruto expected his pants to become heavier from the moisture, but they felt the same as when he was on solid land.

'Must be something done to the fabric to repel water...Ino made some good choices...' Naruto thought to himself as he began releasing chakra into water. While he could have just as easily done that by standing on top of the water, it was more effective based from his experience to just stand in the water. He flashed through a blur of handseals as water rose from behind in the shape of a dragon's head.

"**Suiton: Suiryuudan!**" he called through the clearing as the dragon charged full on overhead into the line of posts fifty meters in front of him. He pumped more and more chakra into the attack, making sure that it could make the distance; he had never tried to use it for long range attacks before, mainly sticking to medium range at about twenty yards.

The water dragon slammed into the ground around the posts. Almost instantly, the water disappeared as fast as it struck the pallid white, five foot tall posts. The chakra had been easily taken in by the seals; the stone ground around them didn't even look wet after three seconds of completing the attack. The seals were just that powerful.

Naruto panted a little; using that technique took a lot out of him, especially that particular one, having required using almost twice the normal chakra to reach the target. Naruto walked out of the water, heading closer to the chakra stealing seals. He stopped approximately halfway on his way to the posts and sat down, removing his bag from hanging against his left hip at the same time. He made himself comfortable and picked a scroll from one of his bag's pockets. The reddish-blonde opened up the scroll in front of him, starting at the top. He read through the basics and how to form the correct amount of chakra three times over. Naruto stood up and placed the scroll so that he could see it. 

Naruto had a fierce look in his eyes as he looked at his hand. "Let's get it on."

It was a little after nine when Ino woke up. She lifted her eyelids slowly, savoring every second of quiet that she knew would be inevitably ruined. Ino's iris-less took in every aspect of her room. It was filled with her favorite color: royal purple. To her, it was the most beautiful and tranquil color of them all. Any shade of purple was wonderful: lavender, violet, heliotrope, magenta, anything. You named it, she adored it. It was just so...refreshing. There wasn't much purple in nature compared to the other colors, so she thought it was nice to like something so uncommon and even sometimes, rare; to be able to enjoy something so simple.

Ino stayed sprawled out in bed for another couple of minutes. Shikamaru hadn't mentioned any training or missions for the day, so she was free to herself. She glanced around her mostly purple room and laid her eyes on the dress that Naruto had bought for her the day before. It was diving looking and the design was so ornate; she loved it. She would have to thank the blonde again later...and maybe try talking him into another shopping trip in the near future... That reminded her, he had promised to show her Kage Bunshin. She would have to see him about it later. From there, her thoughts drifted on to Sakura; she had promised to help her look for her teammate and instead she spent the afternoon with him in secret. She'd probably have to make it up to her. Though, Ino was plenty confident in Naruto that he would talk to her. Sakura's feelings were understandable, her friend that she had fought by on countless occasions had just abandoned her. Well, he hadn't technically 'abandoned' her, just gone a way for a while. With no word as to where he was. Or even a goodbye. Ino had to admit that his actions were a little rude, but Naruto was sort of known for being blunt and a tad dense. He most likely didn't think of her at the time. That had to have been it.

The platinum blonde rose from her still warm bed and proceeded to start her morning routine. After getting ready, Ino left her family's home/flower shop. She mostly wandered around the market district for a while, browsing the shops and what not. She was in no rush to be anywhere, except maybe pop in on Sakura to see how her talk had been. Finally after an hour of pointless meandering, she changed course and headed toward the mostly civilian part of the village.

The blonde kunoichi stood in front of her friend's front door. She looked up at the heavily clouded sky that leaked out just a small amount of bright blue from between the rapidly moving clouds. Ino stared at it for a moment, transfixed for some reason. She pulled herself from her cloud induced stupor and focused on the door. Ino's hand rapped the door lightly twice. She could hear heavy footsteps on the other side, most likely from someone dragging their weight. The deep brown door opened up to reveal Sakura in a very disheveled state. Her hair was askew and normally emerald eyes bloodshot. She looked horrible.

"Sa-Sakura...what happened?"

"Na...ruto..." was her weak reply; her voice sounded hoarse, making the tone seem more pathetic.

Ino moved forward, taking her pink haired friend in her arms, letting her sob into her shoulder. Ino reached back and closed the door before easing Sakura over to the couch in the main room.

"Sakura, tell me what happened."

"He's not Naruto..." she sobbed noisily. "He's different. That's not Naruto."

"Sakura, I was with him yesterday; he seemed perfectly normal to me, albeit a little more mature, but he's the same." Ino's tone was soothing, persuading Sakura to trust her.

Sakura looked up from her hands and stared intently at Ino. "NO! HE'S NOT! THAT'S NOT NARUTO! NARUTO WOULD NEVER DO THAT!"

Ino flinched at the volume of her voice along with the tone. "Sakura, it's okay. You're just stressed. Now tell me, what would he never do."

"He-" Sakura hiccuped. "He said that he gave up. He gave up on Sasuke! He said that he was "too far gone" to be saved! But he's wrong! He's wrong! He has to be! There's no way Sasuke is really evil! He just wanted more power to defeat his brother! That's all; when he's done it, he'll come back!" She was practically in hysterics at this point. "Once we bring him back, everything will go back to the way things were! Right?!"

Ino chose to stay quiet. To be honest, she never did understand the Uchiha prodigy. After a while, she grew up past the rejection. Sakura was closer to him anyway; if he was going to let someone in, it would most likely be her. There was no real reason to pursue his attention and affection anymore. She cut her losses and focused more on her team and friends, her training, her actual life; not some fantasy that would only lead to heartbreak. But Sakura...she had been led to believe that he loved her. She may have been right, only Uchiha Sasuke knew that.

As for her thoughts on him leaving, she never was able to fathom why someone would place power above everything. He was even willing to sacrifice his body if it meant that he would beat Itachi. Nothing mattered but that to him. Ino couldn't understand what it was like losing everyone like he did. She couldn't understand what drove him everyday besides wanting to get stronger. But she did understand that sometimes we need to let things go in order to save ourselves. It was a tragedy that happened that night when Uchiha Itachi obliterated his clan, save one Uchiha Sasuke. But it was an even worse tragedy what happened to the sole loyal Uchiha: he let himself descend into the darkness and hide- no, corrupt his emotions. He wanted to be able to avenge his clan, but at what cost? Only Sasuke knew. And Ino knew that Sasuke would do anything to make sure his ambition was accomplished. So, did she think that there was a chance that Sasuke would let things go back to the way they were? No. But that's not what Sakura needed now. She needed comfort. She didn't need the truth. Not now, anyways.

"Yeah... You're right, Sakura. You just need to believe that Naruto is okay and that he will help bring back Sasuke. You know what? I'm going to go talk to him. I'm sure a talk will clear all this up. Don't you worry, Sakura. I'll help you. Don't worry."

Sakura's eyes lit up. She could...hope again. Her friend wasn't lost. Her dreams weren't ruined. There was still hope. Naruto was wrong. She just knew it. "Thanks...Ino. You...you and Naruto are the closest friends I have..." She wiped her eyes with her the backside of her hand. "Thank you..."

"Don't worry, Sakura. I'll talk to him for you. Why don't you get some rest in the meantime."

"Yeah...I think I will."

Ino stood up and walked over to the front door. "I'll talk to you later, Sakura. Take care of yourself until then."

"Yeah... Thanks again, Ino. Try to make Naruto change his mind..."

"I will, don't worry." She smiled, trying to ease Sakura's mind just a little more. Ino exited the Haruno house and turned before leaving the main part of the property. Her hand raised to wave her friend goodbye before setting off.

'Sakura... I need to find Naruto. I need to know why he would do this to her... This isn't like him at all. He was fine yesterday and then he does this? What's going on with you, Naruto?'

A/N: So sorry for the delay. The last two months have been hectic and this story gave me so many issues during that time. I had major writer's block, but it should be gone by now. Expect a lot more updates from now on. Also, please review. 


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